• Health Policy and Management
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.69-88
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• 2010

The effective administration of hospital with innovation and human resource practices is a matter of grave concern because hospitals are becoming bigger and more specialized. Biomedical engineers who manage medical machineries and tools used to deliver healthcare services in a hospital setting play an important role in providing customers good quality services. Maintaining job satisfaction of biomedical engineers is, thus, important in the delivery of quality care. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study aiming to determine factors affecting job satisfaction of biomedical engineers working in general hospitals. The study population consisted of biomedical engineers at 79 general hospitals of 26 regions based on the registry of the Korea Medical Engineering Association (KMEA). The data were collected using a self-administerd questionnaire between May and July of 2009. Job satisfaction was assessed with 19 items covering 3 dimensions of work-external, work-internal, and organizational aspects (Cronbach's ${\alpha}=0.884$), resulting in an average summary score. Statistical analysis was conducted with SPSS for Windows version 15.0. The mean score of job satisfaction was 3.50 (${\pm}0.04$). There were statistically significant differences in job satisfaction according to age, health status, job position, duration of work as a biomedical engineer, years in the current workplace, difficulty at work, intent to change job, and the amount of support from superiors and colleagues. In multiple regression analysis, the factors affecting job satisfaction of biomedical engineers were salary, health status, and support of superiors and colleagues ($r^2=0.512$). Effective motivation-plans, taking into account organizational characteristics and the working environment of the hospital, may help to improve the job satisfaction of biomedical engineers.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.213-223
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• 2013

Objectives Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common reason for people in Korea to visit Korean medical institutions. To assess actual amounts of use in the treatment of LBP in Korean medicine and to provide objective base line data for policy decision making, research regarding the current state of LBP patients' treatment in Korean medical institutions are in need. Methods The current study was designed as a retrospective chart review to investigate descriptive characteristics of LBP patients. The clinical records of 304 patients who were hospitalized for the treatment of LBP in Korean rehabilitation medicine inpatient clinics of five different Korean medicine hospitals were analyzed. The percentage of patient characteristics such as sex, age, average duration of admission, insurance type, diagnosed LBP related disease code, and rates of interventions applied were assessed. Results 1. The female sex was significantly predominant among patients with LBP : 105 patients (34.5%) were male and 199 patients (65.5%) were female. Percentage of the patients' age appeared as followed : 76 people (25.0%) were in their 50s, 64 people (21.1%) were in their 40s, 51 people (16.8%) were in their 30s, 37 people (12.2%) were in their 60s, and 33 people (10.9%) were in their 70s. Approximately half of the total LBP patients investigated were older than 50. 2. The average duration of admission was 16.2 days. Approximately one third (30.3%) of the patients were hospitalized for 8 to 14 days. 3. Female patients tended to stay admitted in hospitals slightly longer than male patients. Elderly (age 60~79) patients stayed in hospitals longer (17.8 days) compared to younger (age 20~39) patients (13.5 days). 4. More than half of the patients (171 cases, 56.3%) had their hospital bills covered with automobile insurance. 40.1% (122 cases) of the patients had medical insurance to cover their hospital bills. The average duration of admission of patients who had automobile insurance was 14.2 days, while that of the patients who had medical insurance was 18.4 days. 5. "Sprain and strain of the lumbar spine and pelvis" was the most commonly used (195 cases, 64.1%) disease code in patients with LBP. Patients diagnosed as "lumbar and other intervertebral disc disorders with radiculopathy" required the longest admission duration (22.1 days). 6. Herbal medication was applied to all of the patients during admission. Acupuncture was applied to all of the patients except one case diagnosed as spinal stenosis. Physical therapy, cupping therapy, moxibustion therapy, chuna therapy, and pharmacopuncture therapy were applied to 94.7, 92.8, 85.2, 83.9, and 49.7% of the patients, respectively. 7. There were certain differences among Korean medicine hospitals in terms of the LBP patients' duration of admission, type of insurance, frequency of the disease code use, type of intervention applied. Conclusions It is thought that the current study can be used as reference data in assessing the current state of LBP treatment in Korean rehabilitation medicine and a basis for future research. Provided improvements of certain limitations of the current study in future researches, such data would act as better base line data in policy decision making.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.52-64
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• 2002

Background : Coding of principal diagnosis is essential component for producing reliable health statistics. We performed this study to evaluate the current practice of principal diagnoses determination and coding, and to give some basic data to improve coding of principal diagnosis. Method : Nineteen medical record administrators (MRAs) of 3 university hospitals participated in coding principal Dx. from August 1, 2001 to August 31, 2001. From each hospital, 10 medical records of patients with high frequency disease were selected randomly. Each 10 medical records were grouped into three (A. B, C). Then, these 30 medical records were given to each MRAs for coding. At the same time questionnaire was given to each of them. Questions were to prove how they decide and code the principal diagnosis among many current diagnoses; how they decide and code the principal diagnosis when they see irrelevant diagnosis recorded as the principal diagnosis in medical record, when only tentative diagnoses were recorded without final diagnosis, and when different diagnoses were recorded in different sheets of same record. Agreement of coding among 3 hospitals were compared and survey results were analysed with SAS 6.12. Results : Agreement of coding was found in medical records 5-6 of each 10 medical records. Causes of disagreement were as follows. Difference of clinician's opinion from each hospital; mixed use of guideline from KCD-3 and guideline from DRG; difference in 4th digit classification according to the absence of pathology report in the medical record; difference of abbreviations among hospitals. 57.9% of MRAs selected the principal diagnosis recorded by physician, 42.1% of MRAs decided principal diagnosis after consulting to KCD-3 guideline. When there were difficulties in determining the principal diagnosis, 42.1% of MRAs decided principal diagnosis after discussion with the physician, 26.3% after discussion with fellow MRAs. Conclusion : There were differences in codings among hospitals. To minimize the difference, we suggest the development of disease-specific guidelines for coding in addition to the current general guideline such as KCD-3. To do this, Coding Clinic which can produce guidelines is needed.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.66-72
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• 2014

Although stress has been implicated to be a risk factor that can threaten physical and mental health, there have been no sufficient studies that analyze the different levels of stress among employees working in the different levels of the hospitals. We aim to identify the general characteristics of hospitals at different levels, to compare the stress levels among customer service representatives working in the tertiary care hospitals as well as acute general hospitals. In addition, we also wanted to analyze the relationship between the types of hospitals and the stress level. The work stress was measured using the Korean Occupational Stress scale. Study subjects' demographic characteristics and lifestyle factors were analyzed using analysis of frequency and multiple regression analysis. Our study revealed that the levels of medical facility were significantly associated with the levels of job stress(P=0.043), and the stress levels of employees working in the acute general hospital's medical facilities were higher than those who were working in tertiary care facilities. We also found that those with higher depression level tended to have higher job stress (P<0.001). Therefore, it is urgent to implement some kind of job stress interventions, especially in the acute general hospital's medical facilities. Moreover, further studies including social and policy research are necessary in order to analyze the overall impact of stress on physical and mental health and to reduce health inequalities among healthcare workers.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.111-130
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between quality of life, self-efficacy and family support of stroke patients in Oriental medicine hospitals. The subjects of this study were 211 hospitalized stroke patients in seven oriental medicine hospitals in the Busan Metropolitan, Gyeongsangnam-do and Gyeongsanbuk-do area. Data was collected through questionnaires from June 1st, 2002 to September 30th, 2002. 1) The relationship between general characteristics and other variables showed significant differences as follows : for general self-efficacy degree, age, occupation, and level of education ; for family support, level of education and occupation ; for quality of life, level of education, occupation, religion, and monthly income. 2) The relationship between disease-related characteristics and other variables showed significant differences as follows ; for general self-efficacy, level of paralysis, and periods of hospitalization ; for specific character of paralysis, level of paralysis, and periods of hospitalization ; for family support, care-giver, character of paralysis, level of paralysis, and periods of hospitalization related; for quality of life, level of paralysis, and periods of hospitalization. 3) There was a significant correlation between the quality of life and general self-efficacy, the quality of life and the specific self-efficacy, the specific self-efficacy and family support.

• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.153-156
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• 2011

This study, which is proceeded in the department of nuclear medicine, aims at preventing unnecessary radiation exposure to the patients and the people near the patients by understanding and presenting the realities about the isolating period for the high dose radioiodine patients after total thyroidectomy in the 7 general hospitals in metropolitan area. Theoretically, the physical half-life of the high dose radioiodine is 8 days. Radioiodine lower than 100 mCi usually is eliminated all in 2 days 1 night considering the biological half-life and the amount of excreting radioiodine The hospitalization standard of the patients treated with high-dose radioiodine therapy has been established according to the fact above. Investigation of the data and questionnaire from the hospital have proven that some hospitals didn't even measure the acceptable dose because of the faith in the vague data. Besides, the some of those inevitably let the readmitting patients exceeding the acceptable dose be in the general ward, not in the isolation ward, because the number of the isolation rooms is relatively smaller than the patients. Thus, we want to contribute that patients understand the realities and the hospitals consider the relevant problem actively so that the problem will be settled by this journal.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2007

Purpose: Gaining vascular access is difficult and time-consuming in critically ill children, so nowdays, in many countries, intraosseous vascular access is frequently used for rapid vascular access in critically ill children. Its pharmacokinetics is close to that of the peripheral intravenous route, but its infusion flow rate is faster. The purpose of this study was to determine how widely the intraosseous infusion technique was being used in Korean emergency departments. Methods: We telephoned forty-two (42) randomly selected university-affiliated hospitals. We asked physicians if they use the intraosseous infusion technique. Responders were emergency and pediatric residents and emergency faculty. If they responded that they were not using the intraosseous infusion technique, we asked the reason. Also, we asked about their experiences with the intraosseous infusion technique. Results: Forty-two (42) hospitals were enrolled in this study. No hospital used the intraosseous infusion technique on a regular basis. However, 8 hospitals used the intraosseous infusion technique occasionally. None of the responders had experience with the intraosseous infusion technique. Conclusion: The intraosseous infusion technique is currently underrepresented at emergency departments in Korea.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.113-128
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• 2012

In this article, three cases of speciality hospitals, Songdo hospital, Bucheon Sejong Hospital, and Wooridul Hospital, are described and analyzed. They have shown outstanding performances and have high reputations. Success factors are drawn out from the cases: innovative founder, technological innovation, team medicine, and customer satisfaction. Implications and limitations are discussed, and suggestions for the future studies are suggested.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2005

Background: This study compared the performance of trauma care in an urban and a suburban hospital before and after the enhancement of emergency and intensive care. Method: The medical records of patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit following trauma from 1994 to 1995 and from 2002 to 2003 were examined. The standardized W (Ws), the 95% confidence interval (CI) of the Ws, and the predicted survival rate (Ps) were calculated. During each period, each hospital's actual survival rate was compared with the 95% CI of the Ps according to the revised trauma score (RTS) and injury severity score (ISS). Spell out RTS and ISS. Result: From 1994 to 1995, 225 and 121 records from the urban and the suburban hospitals were reviewed, respectively. The 95% CI's of the Ws were -2.30 to 2.73 and -11.40 to -5.90, respectively. The actual survival rate of the suburban hospital was significantly lower than the predicted survival rate at all RTS. From 2002 to 2003, 315 and 268 records from the urban and the suburban hospitals were reviewed, respectively. The 95% CI's of the Ws was -3.56 to 0.24 and -3.73 to 0.26, respectively. There was no difference between the actual survival rate and the predicted survival rate. Conclusion: An enlargement of the capacities of emergency and intensive care may improve the performance of trauma care at a small suburban hospital.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.2 s.66
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• pp.86-95
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• 2006

Purpose : This study was conducted to understand Oriental medical health services and analyze the relationships between the perceived Oriental medical health services and the effect, influencing patient satisfaction as. well as intentions of re-visiting such hospitals. Methods : SPSS 10.0, a statistical processing method, was used to process the study data and frequency and ANOVA analysis were used to analyze the differences. Also, Pearson correlation coefficient was performed to analyze the relationships between work satisfaction and health services quality, as well as patient satisfaction and intentions to re-visit such hospitals. Results : Most patients were satisfied with the service, but it was shown that improvement of facilities and medical equipment was needed. The survey showed higher satisfaction with longer experience of doctors and nurses. Staff recognition of health services quality seemed lower than patient satisfaction, so efforts to improve the health services and relationships between health services quality and patient satisfaction are necessary. Conclusion : Higher quality and satisfaction with Oriental medical health services are going to improve total re-use intention to a significant degree.