• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.48-52
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• 2018

Background: The current study evaluated the hospital utilization and characteristics of patients who received health care services for acute cerebral infarction outside their own residential area. Methods: Using the 2014 national patient survey data, information on 2,982 patients diagnosed with acute cerebral infarction through emergency department were retrieved for the analyses. Multiple logistic regression was performed to investigate the characteristics associated with using hospitals outside residential area among patients diagnosed with acute cerebral infarction. Results: Fifteen point nine percent of patients admitted for acute cerebral infarction utilized hospitals outside their residential area. Patients residing in a province were 7.7 times more likely to utilize hospitals located outside their residential areas compared to those living in Seoul metropolitan city. Patients living in Gangwon and Jeolla were 0.26 times and 0.48 times more likely to go to hospitals in different geographical areas. Also, patients within the age group of 80 years and over were 0.65 times less likely to be admitted to hospitals outside their residential area compared to those in their 40s-50s. Conclusion: The use of hospitals outside patient's residential area is shown to be substantial, given that the acute cerebral infarction requires immediate recognition and treatment. The findings on the geographical differences in the hospital utilization suggest further investigation.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.289-303
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• 2013

This study looks at priorities in managing public hospitals by figuring out categories needed to examine the quality of each hospital. In order to analyze priorities and relative importance of valuation indicator in Seoul municipal hospitals, surveys were sent via e-mail to medical professionals who have participated in evaluation of municipal hospitals. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was conducted using the Expert Choice 11.5 program. The results show that 'providing public service' is considered to be the most important category for all kinds of public hospitals, followed by 'improving the quality of medical care', 'hospital management and governance', and 'efficient hospital management'. The importance of 'hospital management and governance' and 'efficient hospital management' is different depending on the types of hospitals, but the importance of 'providing public service' and 'improving the quality of care' remains the same regardless of the types of hospitals. Based on these results, the study comes to a conclusion that public hospitals should place high value on certain categories and their management purposes should differ depending on their specific fields and characteristics. This study will help furthering discussions on the identity and roles of public hospitals.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.316-325
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• 2003

Purpose: This study was done to identify role conflict and job satisfaction in nurses in oriental medicine hospitals. Method: Study participants were 128 nurses employed in oriental medicine hospitals. The data were collected using a survey questionnaire. The instruments included a 37-item role conflict scale and 20-item job satisfaction scale. The data were analyzed using frequencies, means, percentages, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient with the Window's SPSS program. Result: There were significant differences in job satisfaction according to marital status, motivative for being a nurse and length of work time. The mean score for role conflict was 3.69 and for job satisfaction, 2.96. Job satisfaction had a significant inverse correlation with role conflict in these nurses. Conclusion: It is suggested that further studies are needed to identify factors affecting role conflict and job satisfaction in oriental medicine nurses, which will help to identify strategies to decrease the role conflict and increase job satisfaction in nurses employed in oriental medicine hospitals.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.17-27
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• 2021

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate which information of cancer patients should be collected for the Korean medicine cancer registry in order to assess the efficacy and safety of Korean medicine (KM) treatment and to identify Korean medical prognostic predictors. Methods: A total of fifteen Korean medical specialists completed an online survey questionnaire including items about general characteristics of cancer patients and clinical practice patterns. Results: The four main types of cancer at Korean medical hospitals were breast, lung, stomach, and colorectal cancer. The majority of patients with cancer at Korean medical hospitals were in the advanced or metastatic stage (50.0%). The prominent purposes of KM treatment were to alleviate cancer-related symptoms, reduce the side effects of conventional therapy, and improve quality of life. The major options for treatment were traditional herbal medicine (THM), acupuncture, moxibustion, thermotherapy, pharmacoacupuncture, and meditation, with THM being the most frequently used (35.7%). Almost all Korean medical specialists (93.9%) used syndrome differentiation in clinical practice and identified over half the cancer patients as deficiency syndrome (57.2%). Conclusion: Physicians considered the primary goal of KM treatment for cancer patients to be symptom management since advanced or metastatic stage patients were the majority at Korean medical hospitals. THM were the most common treatment option and syndrome differentiation was used by almost all physicians. Further research is needed to monitor and ensure optimal KM treatment for patients with cancer.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 2007

Objectives : This study was conducted to investigate the current status of outsourcing in Korean hospital information systems and the factors influencing its introduction. Methods : The authors surveyed 136 hospitals located in Seoul and its surrounding vicinities from June 7 to June 23, 2006. The facilitators and inhibitors to outsourcing in hospital information systems were derived from literature and expert reviews. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to identify the major influencing factors on outsourcing in hospital information systems. Results : Eighty-six (63.2%) of the 136 hospitals surveyed, which were mainly tertiary hospitals, responded to using outsourcing for their hospital information systems. "Hardware and software maintenance and support," "application development," and "management of service and staff" were the major areas of outsourcing. Outsourcing had been employed for $4\sim7$ years by 45.5% of the hospitals and the proportion of the budget used for outsourcing was less than 20%. A need for an extension in outsourcing was agreed on by 76.5% of the hospitals. The multiple logistic regression analysis showed that both consumer satisfaction and security risk have an influence on hospital information system outsourcing. Conclusions : Outsourcing in hospital information systems is expected to increase just as in other industries. One primary facilitator to outsourcing in other industries is consumer satisfaction. We found that this was also a facilitator to outsourcing in hospital information systems. Security risk, which is usually considered an inhibitor to information technology outsourcing, was proven to be an inhibitor here as well. The results of this study may help hospital information systems establish a strategy and management plan for outsourcing.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.97-113
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between the locational characteristics of areas surrounding oriental medicine hospitals and the number of patients who visited study hospitals. Administrative data collected from the annual report of 5 ward offices in Daejeon used to assess the geographical attributes. Two oriental medicine hospitals operated in Daejeon provided data for the number of inpatient and outpatient. Number of patients who visited study hospitals was calculated in each Dong which is the smallest administrative district. The geographical attributes of Daejeon were evaluated by the demographic and economic factors which were assumed to influence the health care demand. Each criterion was measured from each Dong. Weights of factors was calculated by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Evaluation scores which representing the geographical attributes of Dong was computed by multiplying the eight factors and weights. Results showed positive correlation coefficients between the evaluation scores of Dong and the number of patients. One hospital which was more closely located to areas with high evaluation scores had higher number of patients than that of the other hospital. Buffering analysis with varying size support the analysis results. This finding proposed the importance of location for the management of oriental medicine hospitals in a metropolitan city. Applying study model to other cities will enhance the validity of study results.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.1 s.49
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• pp.207-223
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• 1995

A new medical delivery system which regulated outpatient department(OPD) use from tertiary care hospitals was adopted in 1989. Under the new system, patients using tertiary care hospital OPD without referral slip from clinics or hospitals could not get any insurance benefit for the services received from the tertiary care hospital. This study was conducted to evaluate the Patient Referral System(PRS) with respect to health care expenditures and utilization. Two data sets were used in this study. One was monthly data set(from January 1986 to December 1992) from the Annual Report of Korea Medical Insurance Corporation(KMIC). The other was monthly joint data set composed of personal data of which 10% were selected randomly with their utilization data of KMIC from January 1988 to December 1992. The data were analyzed by time-series intervention model of SAS-ETS. The results of this study were as follows: 1. There was no statistically significant changes in per capita expenditures following PRS. 2. Utilization episodes per capita was increased statistically significantly after implementation of PRS. The use of clinics and hospitals increased significantly, whereas in tertiary care hospitals the use decreased significantly immediately after implementation of PRS and increased afterwards. 3. Follow-up visits per episode were decreased statistically significantly after implementation of PRS. The decrease of follow-up visits per episode were remarkable in clinics and hospitals, whereas in tertiary care hospitals it was increased significantly after implementation of PRS. 4. There was no statistically significant changes in prescribing days per episode following PRS. Futhermore, clinics and hospitals showed a statistically significant decrease in prescribing days per episode, whereas in tertiary care hospital it showed statistically significant increase after implementation of PRS. 5. Except high income class, the use of tertiary care hospitals showed statistically significant decrease after implementation of PRS. The degree of decrease in the use of tertiary care hospitals was inversely proportional to income. These results suggest that the PRS policy was not efficient because per capita expenditures did not decrease, and was not effective because utilization episodes per capita, follow-up visits per episode. and prescribing days per episode were not predictable and failed to show proper utilization. It was somewhat positive that utilization episodes per capita were decreased temporarily in tertiary care hospitals. And PRS policy was not appropriate because utilization episodes per capita was different among income groups. In conclusion, the PRS should be revised for initial goal attainment of cost containment and proper health care utilization.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.130-145
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• 1996

Purpose : the management of University Hospital is being challenged in maintenance of reasonable level of income and high ranked reputation by domestic competition with each other and emergence of enterprised owned hospitals. It is imperative that University Hospitals have to make management for patient satisfaction. Furthermore, increased patient's requirement for qualified hospital services (quality assurance) and low-estimated service fee also repress the hospital management condition as well as medical markets open following with Urguay Connection. Due to these unforable conditions surrounding hospital management, -University Hospitals are being pressed to seek improved management strategies. To develope the strategies, we need to have basic understanding about the problems on hospital management and detail information for various patient's requirement. Methods: For this study, we have analysed out-patients from five different University Hospitals located in Seoul, Korea. To obtain the data, we have carried out personal interviews with patients who patients who visit the Out-Patient Clinics of five different University Hospitals using a previously prepared questionnaire. Result: Around 65.7 percent of the visits to University Hospitals were indwelt in the vicinity of 1 hour and motuvation of visiting University Hospital was expending high wuality medical csre in 49.3 percent. The 79.3 percent of the patients have experienced inconvenience during medical care in University Hospital. The most inconvenient condition was waiting for doctors. The 57.2 percent of total patient have experienced rudness. The most rudness condition was registration and receipt desk in 44.4 percent. Patient expect that doctors working in University Hospitals as professors have high and updated medical knowledge(50.4%) and University Hospitals have a high quality medical care system(79.4%). The patient satisfaction was relatively low in 61.1 percent of total patient and revealed high frequency of again visit University Hospital in satisfaction group. Comparison of interhospital analytical study showed quite difference on various problems. Conclusion: Almost patients who visit to Out-Patient Clinic of University Hospital havevisiting motivation to high quality medical care. University Hospitals have several different unsatisfactorial factors and revealed different degree of patient satisfaction. In a future day, University Hospitals have to make use of another University Hospital's merits for approach of Benchmarking and also should be studied decision factors of patient satisfaction and interhospital difference of them.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.548-557
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to understand how vegetarian diets in Taiwanese hospitals are well established and provide suggestion for successful implementation in Korea. Micro-ethnographic case study with in-depth interviews, field observations, and paper reviews were used for this study. Experiences of doctors and nutritionists from Taiwanese hospitals where deliver vegetarian hospital diets were analyzed. This research found out Taiwanese life respect culture has influence on introducing vegetarian diets in hospital, besides most Participants agreed to use vegetarian diets for the medical purpose according to their clinic experiences and research results. Meanwhile there is no restriction to compel patients to keep vegetarian diets. All participants answered food has a large effect on the human body and further study on vegetarian diets' efficacy is required. The hospital chief's decision making is crucial to introduce vegetarian diets in hospitals. For the bigger picture, social supports, organizational supports and national policy supports are all important factors for it. The implications and recommendations for Korean hospitals were discussed. The public awareness for vegetarian diet for medical purpose along with research on its efficacy would be needed. In order to make good use of a vegetarian diet for medical purposes, we first need to build a vegetarian-friendly environment, go deep into the study of a diet's effects using diverse methodologies, and combine the diet with traditional medicine theory. Based on the results of this primary study, more related studies should be carried out in the future.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.35-51
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• 2013

Objectives: The purpose on this study was to analyze medical health insurance to provide useful data to reestablish oriental medical insurance fees for long-term care hospitals. Methods: First, comparative analysis on medical health insurance was performed, calculating insurance fees of patients admitted to Mungyung Long-term Care Hospital. The oriental medical insurance fee of the patients was calculated as if the patients have been admitted to oriental long-term care hospitals, and the ratio of oriental medical insurance fee to western was calculated. Results: 1. The ratios of total medical expenses were 90% within 3 months and 82% over 3 months. 2. The ratios of co-pays were 86% within 3 months and 82% over 3 months. Conclusions: Oriental medical insurance fees need to be reevaluated.