No abstract available.
Methods*

No abstract available.
Delivery of Health Care*

No abstract available.
Cause of Death* ; Korea*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Fibronectins* ; Paraffin*

Decentralization to local governments and amending of Health center Law are to promote the efforts of health planning at the level of local agencies. In the health facility planning, it is important to take into account that what to be built, where to be located, how far should be service area and so forth, because health facilities are immovable, and require capital as well as personnel and consumable supplies. The aim of our study, answering to the question of 'where to be located?`, is to determine the best location of urban health sub-center. At the local level, planning is the matter of finding the best location of specific facility, in relation to population needs. We confine the accessibility, which is basic to location planning, to geographic one. Location-Allocation Model is used to solve the problem where the location is to maximize geographic accessibility. To minimize the weighted travel distance, objective function, Rk= aijwidij is used. Distances are measured indirectly by map measure-meter with l:25,000 Suwon map, and each potential sites, 10 administrative Dongs in Kwonson Gu, Suwon, are weighted by each number of households, total population, maternal age group, child age group, old age group, Relief for the livelihood, and population/primary health clinics. we find that Kuwoon-Dong, Seodun-Dong, Seryu3-Dong, according the descending orders, are best sites which can minimize the weighted distance, and conclude that it is reasonable to determine the location of urban health sub-center among those sites.
Child ; Equipment and Supplies ; Family Characteristics ; Gyeonggi-do ; Health Facilities ; Health Facility Planning ; Health Planning ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Maternal Age ; Politics ; Urban Health*

OBJECTIVES: Assuring adequate supply of specialist physicians is an important task in national health planning. An over-supply in a given speciality inflates health care cost, while undersupply increases the likelihood that population has a barrier in the access to basic health services needed. Only a few national specialty-specific physician planning studies have been undertaken in Korea. We forecasted the supply of and the demands for psychiatrists in the target year of 2015. METHODS: We adopted alternative projection models combined with demographic method as a supply forecasting method and Health Resources and Services Administration's demographic utilization-based model as a requirements forecasting method. The model uses selected data primarily from National Hospital Discharge Survey, database of the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association (KNPA) survey for certified members of KNPA, and Hospital Accreditation and Teaching Hospital Designation Report. We assumed two alternatives in supply forecasting by the number of medical students enrolled, and three alternatives in requirements forecasting based on future service utilization and physician productivity. RESULTS: Depending on assumptions, total psychiatrist supply ranged from 3,439 to 3,575 and requirements ranged from 1,873 to 4,048 in 2015. We estimated 162 surplus in 2005 and a 162 shortage of psychiatrist in 2015 based on high-level supply estimates and medium level requirements estimates. CONCLUSION: There would be no overt oversupply of psychiatrists in 2015 if the number of new residency positions is maintained at 4.6% of the number of medical students newly enrolled in a year. Further studies would be needed concerning comprehensive economic and institutional factors which could affect the requirements of psychiatrists.
Accreditation ; Efficiency ; Forecasting ; Health Care Costs ; Health Care Surveys ; Health Planning ; Health Resources ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Internship and Residency ; Korea* ; Psychiatry* ; Specialization ; Students, Medical

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to classify the elderly in long-term care facilities using the Resource Utilization Group(RUG-III) and to examine the feasibility of a payment method based on the RUG-III classification system in Korea. METHOD: This study measured resident characteristics using a Resident Assessment Instrument-Minimum Data Set(RAI-MDS) and staff time. Data was collected from 530 elderly residents over sixty, residing in long-term care facilities. Resource use for individual patients was measured by a wage-weighted sum of staff time and the total time spent with the patient by nurses, aides, and physiotherapists. RESULT: The subjects were classified into 4 groups out of 7 major groups. The group of Clinically Complex was the largest (46.3%), and then Reduced Physical Function(27.2%), Behavior Problems (17.0%), and Impaired Cognition (9.4%) followed. Homogeneity of the RUG-III groups was examined by total coefficient of variation of resource use. The results showed homogeneity of resource use within RUG-III groups. Also, the difference in resource use among RUG major groups was statistically significant (p<0.001), and it also showed a hierarchy pattern as resource use increases in the same RUG group with an increase of severity levels(ADL). CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that the RUG-III classification system differentiates resources provided to elderly in long-term care facilities in Korea.
Aged ; Female ; Health Resources/*utilization ; Homes for the Aged/*economics ; Humans ; Korea ; Long-Term Care/*economics ; Male ; Nursing Homes/*economics ; Patients/*classification ; *Prospective Payment System

PURPOSE: To identify trends in patient satisfaction adjusted for sociodemographic factors and health status from 1989-2003. METHODS: Five repeated cross-sectional surveys were used. The study sample included 290,534 household members 20 years of age and over from the five survey periods of 1989, 1992, 1995, 1999, and 2003. Satisfaction was measured using a five-point scale, ranging from "very satisfied" to "very dissatisfied." Crude satisfaction rates, representing the proportion of patients satisfied (very satisfied or satisfied), were calculated for each survey period. Satisfaction rates adjusted for age, sex, marital status, education, and selfrated health status were calculated for each of the five years. RESULTS: Crude satisfaction rates increased from 15.4% in 1989 to 40.5% in 2003. The proportions of satisfaction and dissatisfaction were reversed after 15 years had passed. However, the satisfaction trend was not linear throughout the different years, with 1992 being the year with the lowest satisfaction rate (9.7%). These trends in crude rates did not change even after adjusting for patient characteristics. The odds of satisfaction in 1992 were 38% lower (odds ratio 0.62, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.64) than the odds in 1989. In 2003, the odds of satisfaction were 4.01 times (95% CI 3.89 to 4.13) the odds for 1989. Older, female, married, and less-educated people were more likely to be satisfied. Patients who rated their health as "very good" had the highest satisfaction rate, and those with "neutral" health ratings had the lowest. General hospitals achieved substantial improvement whereas pharmacies became the lowest-rated of all institutions. CONCLUSIONS: The Korean health system has achieved better patient satisfaction rates over the past 15 years. Increased health expenditure, resources, and quality improvement efforts may have contributed to this progress.
Adult ; Aged ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Health Status ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Patient Satisfaction ; Quality of Health Care/*trends ; Socioeconomic Factors

No abstract available.
Insurance, Health* ; Medicare*