• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.57-80
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to examine the information search behavior of medical consumers visiting a hospital, and investigate the consumption values of medical consumers, classified according to the information search behavior, and characteristics of online health and disease information. This study also tried to identify the factors affecting medical consumers classified according to information search behavior, and gain an extensive understanding of medical consumers'consumption values and online information use. The analysis results of this study are as follows: First, the consumption values of medical consumers were classified into a total of 7 factors, i.e. future-positive value, family-oriented value, sustainablehealth value, rational-progressive value, social-cooperative value, socialachiever value and hedonistic-individual value. Next, the characteristics of medical consumers'online information search behavior were classified into three types of consumer groups, i.e. the limited information-oriented consumer group, the practical information-oriented consumer group and the passionate information-oriented consumer group. Second, the analysis of the differences among the three groups classified according to the characteristics of the information search behavior in terms of consumption values, use of online information sources, utility and the intention to reuse online information showed that all the differences were statistically significant. The passionate information-oriented consumer group showed the highest scores in the sustainable-health value, the social-achiever value and the hedonisticindividual value. Third, the factors affecting medical consumers, classified into three groups according to the characteristics of the information search behavior, were found to be socio-demographic variables like consumers' age and occupation, consumers'consumption values, use of online information sources, and utility of online information. This study tried to understand what values medical consumers have according to the differences in the information search behavior by examining the consumption values of medical consumers according to the information search behavior. The significance of this study lies in the fact that consumption values are instrumental in understanding medical consumers by identifying the fundamental motives and desires of consumers' behavior.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.57-82
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• 2012

The primary purpose of this study is to examine consumers'probing actions to see what information sources consumers search for medical information when there are diverse medical service information channels, and classify consumers by information source. Its secondary purpose is to understand trust of information and attitude toward information by consumer type, value of medical service, satisfaction with medical service, and word-of-mouth intention. This study will concretely identify information utilization patterns of medical consumers, and explain the unique characteristics and behavior of segmented types of medical consumers. The significance of this study lies in the search for ways to establish information channels trusted by consumers for building an efficient medical service market in the future. The results of this study show that consumers were classified by the latent class analysis(LCA) into 5 types: low-level information seekers, word-of-mouth information seekers, mass media information seekers, digital information seekers and diverse information seekers. The reliability of information sources by type of medical consumer was statistically significant, and in the analysis of differences in consumer attitude, there was a statistically significant difference in cognitive responses. The value of medical service was statistically significant in health recovery and medical service word-of-mouth intention.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.193-204
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• 1992

The purpose of this article is (1) to measure the attitudes of health care consumers towards medical service, the physicians' duty to provide information and patient self-determination options, (2) to discover the their related variables. The attitude of health care consumers towards medical service reveals statistically significant corelation with age and education. Among the statistically significant independent variables it is significantly related with age in the multiple regression analysis. The attitude of health care consumers towards the physicians' duty to provide information reveals statistically significant corelation with age, education and the attitude of health care consumers towards medical service. Among these independent variables it is significantly related with the attitude of health care consumers towards medical service in the multiple regression analysis. The attitude of health care consumers towards patients' self-determination options reveals statistically significant corelation with age, the attitude of health care consumers towards medical service and the attitude of health care consumers towards the physicians' duty to provide information. Among these independent variables it is significantly related with the attitude of health care consumers towards the physicians' duty to provide information in the multiple regression analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.133-148
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• 2006

This study takes an effort to suggest solutions for medical service consumers' sovereignty. Specifically, consumer evaluation, information seeking level, and affecting factors on information seeking level were explored in terms of medical service. In present study, medical information included medical institution and doctors, prescription, diseases, medical treatment and medical expense. Medical service consumers' information seeking is identified as consumers' own efforts to acquire medical information through various sources. The analysis results suggested that consumers' information seeking level is even lower, while their evaluation level is somewhat low. Moreover, the result for information seeking level by consumer characteristics implied that people who have high education, high economic status, medical knowledge, and high attitudes for consumer right are active information seekers. Finally, consumer attitudes for right appeared most influential factor on information seeking level, implying direction for medical service consumer education.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.362-372
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• 2007

Purpose: This study was performed to identify the perception gaps of nursing services quality between consumers and providers, and identify the perceived influences of nursing services quality on general satisfaction of medical services and revisiting intent of hospital by consumers. Method: The Joo's questionnaire founded on SERVQUAL was modified and distributed to 300 patients and nurses at 6 general hospitals in 5 provincial cities, Korea. Result: It is identified that the perception gaps between consumer and providers exist, and consumers perceive nursing services quality has a influences on general satisfaction of medical services and revisiting intent of hospital. And it is also identified that consumers also perceive general satisfaction of medical services has a powerful influences on revisiting intent of hospital. Conclusion: It is concluded that the marketing strategies being based on the perception gaps between consumers and providers should be specifically planned and applied to improve the perceived nursing services quality by consumers. And it is needed to accurately identify the impact attributes and factors of nursing services quality on general satisfaction of medical services and revisiting intent of hospital that consumers perceive.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.367-372
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• 2018

The supply of medical services using high-priced medical equipment is increasing due to the medicalization of medical science. The level of medical knowledge of medical consumers and the ability to select medical institutions are required to provide high quality medical services because of the popularization of medical information. As the attitudes of medical consumers toward medical institutions change, medical institutions also need to change their perception to improve customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to analyze the difference of medical service satisfaction according to the medical knowledge about the utility of PET / CT in order to change the consciousness structure of medical service. The results of this study showed that both medical satisfaction and environmental satisfaction were high in those who had medical knowledge about their own illness and the usefulness of PET / CT. Therefore, medical institutions will need a practical medical service countermeasures to provide medical information by noticing the changes in perception of the medical knowledge of medical consumers, rather than providing formal medical services.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.32-57
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• 2012

This paper explored that medial consumers' trusts in both hospitals and doctors are developed by and during investigating hospital websites and that these trusts directly build the consumers' purchase intentions of the hospitals' offline medical services. 208 questionnaires based on the websites of two virtual hospitals, captured on survey brochures, were collected and analyzed. This research indicated information quality of hospital websites affected more on developing consumers' trusts than service quality.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.266-280
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• 2013

Background: Information asymmetry between physicians and patients is one of the most unique characteristics of health care. But as consumerism spreads in health care sector, health care consumers are searching comparative information about quality and cost of providers from many information sources. Providing comparative information to health care consumers not only makes consumers choose hospital rationally, but also invigorates the health care market by providers' competition. However there are few studies regarding information searching behavior of health care consumers, then this study is carried out. Methods: The purpose of this study is to understand the information searching behavior of health care consumers based on their characteristics and the types of medical institutions. For this purpose, 313 spinal patients' data of 11 medical institutions (university hospital, spine specialized hospital, clinic) located in Seoul were collected by self-administered surveys. Results: The results of this study are as follows: 1) t-test/analysis of variance analysis showed that according to various characteristics of health care consumers and the types of medical institutions, the level of information searching of each source and the amount of information searching and searching outcomes are statistically different. 2) Regression analysis showed that influence on searching outcomes are statistically different according to the level of information searching of each source and searching content and the amount of information searching has positive effects on searching outcomes. Conclusion: The significance of this study is to provide empirical basis for establishment of health care policy reflecting information needs and preference of health care consumers.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.36-39
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• 2022

Medical tourism is recognized as a high value-added industry due to its longer stay and more useful costs than general tourism, and is growing rapidly around the world, especially in Asia. In addition, medical tourism is a new form of tourism that combines medical services with tourism activities such as recreation, leisure, and cultural activities, nowadays, medical tourism is emphasizing the combination of medical and tourism. Although Korea medical system and clinic have excellent medical equipment and infrastructure, it is not consistent with policy support and legislation. That have make it difficult for consumers to choose clinics for medical tourism. Therefore, it is necessary to provide customized information to the clinics that consumers want to match each other's services. In particular, it is aimed at consumers with simple procedures and cosmetic purposes, especially at small hospitals. In this paper, we propose a customized service platform that matches users seeking clinics and also medical tourism. Also we can easy to reservation clinic for medical tour.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.40-52
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to identify medical consumers' hospital selection factors in response to the rapidly changing environment of medical industry. For that purpose this study classified consumers' hospital selection factors into three categories such that human factors including expertise, reliability, empathy; system factor including, convenience, differentiation, efficiency; and facility factor including tangibility, accessibility, and location, based on the previous studies and the results of a preliminary survey of the patients of a small private hospital. The nine factors were further divided into 23 more specific attributes. Then, an online survey was conducted to measure the perceptions of the 23 attributes by the medical consumers over the age of 20. The analysis of the survey data using Kano model and Timko model indicated that 14 of the 23 attributes were classified as attractive factors, eight attributes were or classified as, one-dimensional factors, and one attribute, doctors' educational background, was classified as indifference factor. Of the 14 attractive factors, "unique and differentiated services related to medical treatment" and "distance from home to hospital" had the highest customer satisfaction coefficients. Of the eight one-dimensional factors, "kind treatment," "providing adequate explanations," "accuracy of diagnosis," and "cleanness of facilities" had the highest customer satisfaction coefficients as well as the highest dissatisfaction coefficients. The findings indicate that these six attributes are the most basic and most impactful attributes that hospitals must manage strategically to improve their service quality and attract more medical consumers to their hospitals.