Earticle

Objectives: This study examined factors influencing hospital workers' perception of patient safety culture, job boredom and job crafting in reporting of safety compliance. Methods: Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 245 hospital workers who were full-time staff for six months or more. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients and hierarchical multiple regressions with SPSS/WIN version 22.0. Results: The mean score for perception of patient safety culture was 3.16±0.32, for job boredom was 2.52±0.52, for job crafting was 3.35±0.49 and for degree of safety compliance was 2.87±0.33. The hierarchical multiple analysis revealed that hospital work environment (β=.27, p<.001), communication process (β=.27, p<.001) of subarea perception of patient safety culture and cognitive crafting (β=.15, p=.039) of subarea job crafting were predictive of patient safety compliance (R2=.47, p<.001). Conclusions: The findings indicate that perception of patient safety culture and job crafting are important factors to be considered in working to improve hospital workers' safety compliance. Therefore, education and systematic programs to improve perception of patient safety culture and job crafting should be developed.

Objectives: This study investigated outpatient health care satisfaction and influential factors using data from the “2018 Health Care Experience Survey”. Methods: Data on 6,705 participants in the Health Care Experience Survey were statistically examined using a t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis. Results: First, the level of satisfaction among outpatients was generally positive, and satisfaction among older people was high. Second, the significant factors of outpatient overall satisfaction were gender, consultation time, waiting time, reason for choosing institution, satisfaction with doctors, nurses, institutions, and the therapeutic result. Third, influential factors of intention to recommend were education, institution type, reason for choosing institution, satisfaction with doctors, nurses, institutions, and the therapeutic result. Conclusions: In order to improve the overall satisfaction of outpatients, the treatment method should be improved. For example, the doctor should devote more time for and engage in sufficient conversation with the patient, the nurse should be polite, and patients should be given easy-to-understand explanations.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore how service quality in specialized hospitals influences customer loyalty under the mediating effects of customer trust and customer value. Methods: A statistical review was done based on the survey results of patients who had used a specialized hospital in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. A total of 209 questionnaires were collected. After data collection, an empirical analysis was performed using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0 software. Results: Interaction quality (β = 0.254, p < 0.05) and result quality (β = 0.179, p < 0.05) significantly influenced customer trust, while physical environmental quality (β = 0.121, p > 0.05) did not. Customer trust (β = 0.571, p < 0.01) influenced customer value (β = 0.136, p < 0.05) and customer value influenced customer loyalty. In addition, customer confidence (β = 0.668, p < 0.05) was shown to have directly impacted customer loyalty without the mediating effect of customer value (0.078). Conclusions: The findings showed that interaction quality and resulting quality had important implications for customer loyalty. We therefore suggest compliance with appointment times, training to improve work-related skills for employees, improving customer satisfaction, and enhancing communication skills.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors of importance in the medical field from the perspective of the consumer, using "Consumption Life Indicators in Korea." Methods: We examined the general characteristics, economic conditions, information acquisition, complaint-provoking experiences, cognitive score on dispute resolution, and factors affecting medical domain importance selection, using SAS 9.4. software. Results: It was found that “age” among general characteristics and “income” among economic conditions were important factors in selecting medical domain importance. Thus, it was possible to reaffirm the poor health of socioeconomically vulnerable people and their socioeconomic difficulties. Conclusions: The medical domain selection group needs the attention of the government, medical institutions, academia, consumer groups, community service groups and professional organizations, and needs substantial economic support and customized education.

Objectives: To provide guidance for agency planning by identifying barriers faced by Korean pharmaceutical companies in global regulatory affairs. Methods: A questionnaire survey on global regulatory affairs was administered by email to personnel at Korean pharmaceutical companies. From a total of 60, 28 responses were collected. Respondents’ companies were classified as small-sized or large-sized, based on whether their annual sales amounted to KRW 100 billion. Results: Small-sized companies were experiencing greater difficulties in receiving drug approvals from advanced countries, particularly during the Investigational New Drug (IND) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) processes. Conclusions: Support measures to specifically help small-sized companies enter more advanced markets and further improved global regulatory guidelines that can meet large-sized companies’ expectations are needed. Moreover, domestic and global regulatory standards should be harmonized to benefit both groups.

Objectives: Using data from the 1styear of the 7th National Health and Nutrition Survey, this study administered a questionnaire to patients with oral damage and examined the type of medical care used based on the nature of the injury, further characterized by age group and sex. Methods: Of the 8,150 respondents, this study selected those who participated in the health survey and oral exam survey, excluding surveys with missing values, and set 7,681 people as the research participants. This study used SPSS Windows version 23.0(SPSS Inc. IL, USA) as the statistics program and applied the chi-square test (p) based on a complex sample and logistic regression analysis. Results: In the analysis of the type of tooth damage, there was a significant difference (p<.001) in the number of male patients who were injured due to exercise, violence, and safety accidents compared to females. However, there was no significant difference in their type of medical security and whether or not they visited a dental clinic. The patients with private insurance showed relatively high use for tooth extraction and oral surgery (p<.001). Conclusions: The best way to prevent tooth damage is to prevent the accident. For sports or exercises which may cause tooth damage, protective gear, such as a mouthpiece, should be used to prevent tooth damage.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to present the basic data required for effective communication by identifying the effects of communication within the hospital organization on organizational conflict and organizational performance. Methods: For this study 298 medical workers and general administrative staff working in small and medium hospitals were selected. Results: Upward and downward communication had a negative effect on individual conflict and on upward, and horizontal communication between individuals. Likewise, horizontal communication had a negative effect on conflict between groups. Upward, downward, and horizontal communication are defined based on organizational performance. It has been shown to affect. Conclusions: In order to improve conflict management and performance within hospital organizations, effective communication plans appropriate to the situation and targets have to be developed.

Objectives: This study analyzed the prescription characteristics of medication for acute respiratory diseases before and after pay-for-performance to provide basic data on effective medical quality management policies. Methods: The research data were collected from the 2013-2014 sample cohort of the National Health Insurance Corporation, from Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Otorhinolaryngology, Family Medicine and General practitioner clinics (classification of disease codes: J00-J06, J20-J22, J40 outpatients). Results: The antibiotics prescription rates decreased from 43.9% in 2013 to 43.5% in 2014 when the major diagnosis was for upper respiratory infections and increased from 62.0% in 2013 to 62.5% in 2014 when the major diagnosis was for lower respiratory infections. Conclusions: There is a need to identify the correct antibiotic prescription method by expanding the current assessment standards. Such standards must include acute lower respiratory infections and minor diagnoses as the current evaluation techniques focus only on the major diagnosis of acute upper respiratory infections.

Objectives: In this paper, we propose the ethical education direction by analyzing the personal information recognition and practice of music therapists. Methods: For the analyses, we selected 60 music therapists who answered a questionnaire from members of K Music Therapy Association, and analyzed task recognition and practice ask performance using IPA method. Results: In the IPA table, the areas of high recognition and practice (1) are the areas of personal information protection information management. In the IPA table, the areas of low awareness and high practice (2) are areas of privacy communication for those who have completed ethics education. In the IPA table, the areas of low awareness and low practice (3) are areas of privacy communication when ethics education is not completed. In the IPA table, areas of high awareness and low levels of practice (4) are areas of privacy protection. Conclusions: Continuing education should be provided to improve the curriculum on the protection of personal information for music therapists, thereby raising the awareness and practice of privacy.

Objectives: The study aims to compare indirect form of employment with direct form of employment on the variables of occupational danger and physical health. Methods: I studied based on the data of 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) which was performed by Occupational Safety & Health Research Institute of Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency in 2017. SAS 9.4 was used for statistical analysis of the final data. Results: Based on the verification result, the hazard is higher for direct employment than for dispatch or subcontract in case of exposure to risks in the health and social welfare industry. Based on cross tabulation, significant differences were found in the proportions of harmful and safe tasks in direct employment and those in outsourcing in the physical health industry. It was found that the risk of hazard is 2.18 times higher in outsourcing jobs than in direct employment. Conclusions: It is necessary to consider a dispatch and subcontract partner as a strategic partner and not simply hand over dangerous or hard tasks to them. Active and aggressive cooperation along with support from the employer enterprise built in the contract is necessary for the safety and health of dispatch or subcontract laborers.

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the factors influencing the life satisfaction of retirees(n=1,919) in one-person and multi-person households using the 2015 wave of the Korean Retirement and Income Study, collected by the National Pension Service. Methods: Frequency analysis and χ2-test were performed to examine the general characteristics and relation between one-person and multi-person household retirees. Logistic analysis was conducted to examine the factors affecting life satisfaction. Results: Public pension income was a statistically significant factor affecting life satisfaction, economic, health, and life in multi-person households. Conclusions: To improve life satisfaction after retirement, selective insurance benefits are needed depending on the type of household. Moreover a policy for expanding labor market participation is needed.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate cognitive function decline by socio-demographic and health-related characteristics (health behaviors and health status) using 5th Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging panel data. Methods: The subjects were 4,440 community-dwelling people aged over 57 years. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, χ²-test, and binary logistic regression analysis using SPSS ver. 25.0. Results: The findings revealed that socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, area of residence, educational level, marital status, number of children, number of grand-children) and health-related characteristics (smoking, drinking, regular exercise, weight category by body mass index, hypertension and diabetes mellitus) were factors that influenced cognitive function decline (p<.05). Conclusions: Cognitive function decline was closely related to health behaviors and disease types. Future studies must examine related constructs to accurately determine these relationships among various populations. The present study could be used as a tool for the development and implementation of health promotion and prevention strategies.

Objectives: This study is the human factors and disease factors of the copayment system for the elderly (>65 years old) and to identify does the current status and characteristics of the applied elderly and conducted to provide basic data. Methods: Sample cohort data from the National Health Insurance Corporation database, from the years 2012-2015, were analyzed of 21,772 elderly people over the copayment ceiling. Results: The ratio of those who exceeded the copayment ceiling system rose sharply from progressive rates of 3.39% in 2012, 3.69% in 2013 and 5.03% in 2014, to rates of 37.13% from 2013. Factors identified that affect the instances of being over the copayment ceiling were: age, income group, region, severity, disability, sickness distribution, inpatient days, and outpatient days. Conclusions: The reorganization of the copayment ceiling system in 2014 favored low-income families of the elderly, but in 2015, the proportion of elderly was low (only 5.78%). The government's policies needs to change to allow for the amount of the deductible upper limit for low- and middle- income groups to be further subdivided in order for the elderly to receive more deductibles.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of health status and health behaviors on health-related quality of life in Korean adults. Methods: The study was based on the 2017 National Health and Nutrition Survey. Of the total 8,127 people, 5,780 (71.1%) participated: 2,553 (44.2%) were male and 3,227 (55.8%) were female. The variables for this study were demographic factors, disease count, subjective health status, health behaviors, and health-related quality of life (measured by the EQ-5D Index). Results: After analysis, the statistically significant factors associated with health-related quality of life were gender, age, income, education, daytime health status, number of comorbidities (6 or more) and stress. Conclusions: Seven demographic factors have been identified as having a significant impact on health-related quality of life, categorized by model, gender, age and income. Therefore, it is possible that quality of life can be improved through proactive management and by improving subjective health status and health behaviors while in considering of demographic and sociological factors by providing indicators as per gender and age.

Objectives: This study aims to identify the drinking environment and drinking culture in an area with high drinking rates in order to provide the basis for the development of a drinking intervention program. Methods: Forty-six local experts and residents participated in focus group interviews that mainly asked questions about the drinking environment in the community, the culture and behavior of drinking, and the community efforts to reduce the drinking rates. The interviews of four groups were transcribed and analyzed. Results: Drinking environments and cultures were categorized into the following five themes: high physical accessibility to drinking, type of housing and long duration of stay in the same region, drinking-friendly culture and daily life events, various reasons and patterns of drinking, and lack of health (education) programs. Conclusions: Community efforts are required to make the residents aware of how the local environment is related to the high drinking rates in their community. Further, the study underlines the need for the community to make efforts to create an environment where drinking rates are low, and foster a diverse leisure culture.

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the papers in the Korean Journal of Health Service Management (KJHSM) (2007-2018) in order to identify the research trends and aid the future development of healthcare-related research. Methods: Data collection was conducted from September 1-30, 2019. The KSHSM website and Lorea Citatin Index (KCI) electronic database provided 605 copies of original text. Results: Of these, 538 studies are original articles and 7 studies are review articles; 23.7% of the studies presented conceptual framework, 58.4% implemented convenience extraction, and 64.7% collected data using questionnaires. 29.3% of key words were included in the healthcare service, and 48.5% were excluded from the submission field. Conclusions: For the qualitative improvement and development of the journal, it is necessary to consider the relevance of refinement of the methodological approach, segmentation in the field of submission, and selection of keywords.