• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.29-56
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• 2008

Since the execution of National Health Insurance system in Taiwan, the competition of medical industry is becoming more and more severe. The ways the hospital operate knowledge management (KM) concept, combine current human resources and professional knowledge by information techniques and upgrade the competitiveness through reinvention of organizational culture have become the important issues. This research is based on the relationship between KM and organizational operation, integrates the characteristic of medical institutions and framework of medical knowledge cycle and starts the research subject by questionnaires from three dimensions: current situation of KM construction in medical organizations, executive effect of KM activities and the challenges faced by KM; subsequently, from qualitative interview, this research attempts to understand how a medical organization executes and adjusts in the consideration of theory and reality as well as quality and costs when actually operates the organization. This research accesses to KM system application of medical institutions and the empirical executive benefits and difficulties through questionnaires. The research results are as follows: (1) having initial understanding toward current KM establishment of medical institutions; (2) confirming the most important items of KM establishment of medical organizations; (3) understanding the most difficulty which the medical organizations encounter when executing KM; (4) establishing medical knowledge cycle figure of the hospitals receiving interviews. Through case interview, this research profoundly accessed to the actual operation of KM application of medical organizations. The target hospitals intended to try many medical KM measures; however, during to complicated hospital organizations and cultural characteristics, the promotion was not successful and the results were not apparent. The most difficulty was to change the employees’ behavior. The targets believed that only the continuous promotion of KM can allow it to be an important aspect of organizational culture and the competitiveness could constant be upgraded.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2003

General drug prices involve three stages: shipment stage, wholesaler stage and retail stage. Policies on drug price differ from country to country. Shipment stage prices are tightly regulated in countries like France and Netherlands. They are free in only a minority of advanced countries, even if these include some major players such as the US, Germany and, in a very limited sense, Japan. The situation in the UK is very complex with a semi-free system, where drug companies are free to set their own prices but cannot exceed a predetermined profit ceiling. Mark-up at both wholesaler and retail stages is formally admitted in most countries observed. Apart from the general drug prices, reimbursement price of insured drugs has been major policy concerns. Most countries reviewed in this study has exerted some control over reimbursement prices, but differ both in the way how and in the extent to which prices are admitted or fixed. Price fixing has been used in France and Japan. Some countries have transformed their system over time, particularly to move to reference pricing in the last decade. This mechanism has empowered the customer, and improved price competition on the market. Referring to the drug price policies in the advanced countries, this study makes some suggestions for the redirection of Korean price policy for reimbursement drug in health insurance as follows: to match appropriate policy tools to each policy goal; to maximize market mechanism through effective reimbursement price fixing which admits mark-ups in wholesaler and retail prices; to introduce reference pricing system in order to redirect patient's demand with a financial incentive to choose the best-priced drugs and to save the finance of health insurance; and to strengthen surveillance and monitoring mechanism in the drug market.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.145-156
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• 2014

Objectives: Korean medicine hospitals, since they first emerged in the early 1970s, have rapidly become a new member of the hospital population. As it was a new organizational frame for traditional medicine, we tried to analyze the changes of Korean medicine hospitals coping with institutional environment and their relative positioning in the whole health care sector. Methods: On the basis of Scott and his colleagues' identification of the three components of institutional environments, changes in organizational logics, actors, and governance of Korean medicine hospitals during the period from 1971 to 2010 were analyzed. Results: First, Similar to previous literature on institutional eras of Korean health sector, three distinct periods were characterized: the foundation of Korean medicine hospitals to consolidate the legal status(1971~1986), a rapid increase of entrepreneurial hospitals through cultural-cognitive legitimacy(1987~2001), and the reinforcement of specialization and competition(2002~present). Conclusions: Results suggested that: (1) changes in institutional environments hada heavy impact on structural and behavioral changes among Korean medicine hospitals, but the pace was slower than that of western medicine hospitals. (2) In structure, Korean medicine hospitals have positioned themselves as unofficial long-term care hospitals, focusing on chronic diseases(e.g. cerebrovascular disease). Our study demonstrated that organizational theories can provide useful framework for the analysis of Korean medicine and related policies. Indeed, one of the most important implications of this study is that understanding changes in institutional environments is important to understand the process of how members of the health care sector live, grow, change, decline and survive.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.291-299
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• 1991

We retrospectively reviewed 334 inpatients who sustained a total of 518 mandibular fractures and who ewer treated in our department between l980-1990. This results were obtained as follows : 1. In respect of incidence, there were the highest frequency in July, and the lowest frequency in May. The number of patients has not been increased year after year due to competition with other department in our hospital. 2. The age frequency was the highest in the 2nd decade(38.9%) and the ratio of man to women was 4.9 : 1. 3. The most frequent cause of mandibular fracture was traffic accident(43.4%), and the next was fall down(24.3%), fist blow(71%), industrial accident(21%) and others in order. In the traffic accident, autobicycle accident was 14.1%. 4. The most common location of mandibular fracture was symphysis(38.8%), condyle(20.7% ), angle(19.9%) and body(15.1%) were next in order of frequency. The classification by location of fracture, the frequency of single fracture was 54.8%. 5. In 334 patients of mandibular fracture, the frequency of associated injuries was facial laceration(58.4%), teeth injuries(37.7%), extremity injuries(13.2%) were next in order of frequency. 6. The patients arrived in hospital immediately within 24 hours after accident wee 61.4% of all. In respect of treatment, open reduction was 68.7% of all. 7. Complications including infection were present 11.1% of patient. Other complications inclued delayed healing malocclusion, malocclusion and neurologic problem.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 1999

Since the late 1980s, there have been radical changes in the managerial environment of Y University Medical Center(YUMC). Externally, the competition among hospitals has intensified due to the establishment of universal health insurance in 1939 and the entrance of large enterprises into the health care industry in the early 1990s. In addition, government regulation of medical institution is becoming stricter. Also, consumer groups have continued to demand the respect for patient rights and improvement of the quality of medical services. Internally, the financial condition of YUMC has worsened, not only because weak control and poor mediation in its large-scale structure have made its operation inefficient, but also because the rates of increase in the prices of goods and labor have grown faster than any increases in revenues. This study on materials management at YUMC presents a way for YUMC to reduce costs and increase its productivity, thereby overcoming its financial difficulties and dealing with external pressures. This study utilized the case studies of the materials purchasing and medical supply management in the United States and the comparative analysis of management to suggest short-term and long-term alternatives for innovation in YUMC. The goals of the short-term alternatives for innovation are to centralize the purchasing and supply departments and to simplify the decision-making processes. Through these attempts, it is estimated that YUMC's costs could be reduced by $600,000 per year. In the long-term, it is necessary to consider introducing a Supply Processing Distribution(SPD) system and setting up a centralized electronic system for supply and inventory management, although it is difficult to estimate the effect of cost-cutting because of the lack of analysis data. Thus, YUMC should thoroughly analyze initial investment costs and economical efficiency generated from long-term alternatives.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.93-100
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• 1990

To evaluate the utility of autoradiographic technique in the detection of TRH receptor changes in brain after the various kinds of stimulation or drug administration, we tried the characterization of TRH receptor in mouse brain and autoradiography in rat brain as a preliminary study. The Kd value of [3-H] MeTRH to TRH receptors of adult male ICR mouse brain (cebellum and spinal cord were excluded) was 3.55+0.6 nM and Bmax was 3.44+0.52 fmol/mg wet tissue by saturation analysis. The Kd value of TRH to TRH receptors was 133.8+28.2 nM by competition analysis. And we could visualize the distribution of TRH receptors in rat brain by autoradiographic technique.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.19-28
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• 2020

Purpose: The supply of and demand for medical services continue to increase as the current social environment changes. Consequently, competition among medical institutions is intensifying and hospitals must establish appropriate management strategies to improve the medical services they provide. This study suggests that the authenticity of doctors is a factor in improving medical-service quality and examines the effect authenticity has on the affective trust and satisfaction of patients. Design, methodology, and approach: The study utilized previous studies to examine the significance of potential variables, established hypotheses and used a questionnaire to confirm these hypotheses. The questionnaire was distributed to patients who had visited a hospital in the previous six months. Responses were analyzed empirically using structural equation modeling. Findings: The analysis found that a physician's authenticity has a significant impact on the affective trust of patients. While patients' affective trust does not have a similar strong impact on patient satisfaction, physician authenticity does have a significant impact on patient satisfaction. Conclusion and implications: This study examined the roles of authenticity, affective trust, and patient satisfaction in doctor-patient relationships in the medical services field. The implication of the findings is that physician authenticity is a prerequisite for patient satisfaction of medical services.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.4 s.36
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• pp.473-484
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• 1991

Hospitals have been very susceptable to changes in external environment. Accordingly, they have been experiencing great financial difficulty due to low insurance rates and increasing competition. As a remedy, hospitals have attempted to use computer in a strategic manner. Such system is called strategic information system(SIS), and order communication system(OCS ) is an example of SIS in hospital setting. While OCS has known to be effective in reducing waiting time for outpatients, many hospitals are reluctant to introduce this system mainly because there are no real data or methods for justifying the cost of the system. Cost-benefit analysis has been traditionally used for such purpose, but this method deals with limited portion of benefits and therefore not very useful for analyzing the economic feasibility of SIS. In this paper, information economics tools which expand cost with value was used to analyze the economic feasibility of OCS. To assist the analysis, financial simulation model was developed using simulation package, called IFPS(Interactive Financial Planning System).

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.151-159
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• 2009

Objectives : This study was to determine how the perception and the satisfaction of outpatients who utilized clinics and hospitals are structurally related with their willingness to utilize the same institution in the future. Methods : Three hundred and ten responses (via convenient sampling) were collected from 5 hospitals and 20 clinics located in Seoul listed in the "Korea National Hospital Directory 2005". Service quality was utilized as the satisfaction measurement tool. For analysis, we used a structural equation modeling method. Results : The determining factors for general satisfaction with medical services are as follows: medical staff, reasonability of payment, comfort and accessibility. Such results may involve increased competition in the medical market and increased demands for quality medical services, which drive the patients to visit hospitals on their own on the basis of changed determining factors for satisfaction. Conclusions : The structural equation model showed that the satisfaction of outpatients with the quality of medical services is influenced by a few sub-dimensional satisfaction factors. Among these sub-dimensional satisfaction factors, the satisfaction with medical staff and payment were determined to exert a significant effect on overall satisfaction with the quality of medical services. The structural relationship in which overall satisfaction perceived by patients significantly influences their willingness to use the same institution in the future was also verified.

• Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.1657-1662
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• 2018

This epidemiological study aims to determine the incidence, areas, severity, and time of occurrence of sports injuries in elite female rowing athletes who were training at the Jincheon National Training Center for a 1-year period from January 1st to December 31st, 2017. According to the daily injury reports form of the IOC, sport events, weight division, injured area, and cause of injury were recorded, and the following results were found. Upon comparing the incidence of sports injuries, there was a significant difference in weight of double scull athletes. In terms of sports, there was a significant difference between pair and athletes who played double skull. Injuries occurred most commonly in the lower extremity (40.5%), followed by the trunk (35.1%), upper extremity (24.3%). for all athletes in rowing. The knee and lumbar spine/lower back were the most common injury sites. More than 60% of all injuries were Level III, and injuries occurred most frequently during training, followed by weight training and then competition.