No abstract available.
Delivery of Health Care*

No abstract available.
Methods*

No abstract available.
Cause of Death* ; Korea*

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Fibronectins* ; Paraffin*

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

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

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*

BACKGROUND: Silver has been used for disinfection and sterilization. We aimed to confirm the in-vitro antibacterial effects of nanocrystalline silver-coated gauze. METHODS: Fourteen clinical isolates each of Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter baumannii were used. Bacterial suspensions made in tryptic soy broth were exposed to Ordinary and silver-coated gauze. Bacteria were then harvested from the gauze immediately and after 24 h incubation, cultured on blood agar plates and eunmerated for viable counts. The number of colonies was converted into common logarithms for comparison. RESULTS: The number of colonies recovered from silver-coated gauze was significantly lower than those recovered from ordinary gauze when harvested immediately after exposure (E. coli, 3.06 vs 1.73; A. baumannii, 3.13 vs 1.98; P<0.001). After 24 h incubation of exposed gauze, silver-coated gauze produced less than 1 CFU/mL, whereas ordinary gauze produced a number of colonies significantly higher than it did immediately after exposure (E. coli, 4.13; A. baumannii, 4.46; P<0.001). Conclusion: Compared with ordinary gauze, silver-coated gauze was shown to have 99.99% antibacterial effect.
Acinetobacter baumannii ; Agar ; Bacteria ; Disinfection ; Escherichia coli ; Silver ; Sterilization ; Suspensions

Equity-focused public health policy has solid theoretical and practical basis, in addition to ethical one. In the Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea), however, equity in health has not had a high priority in policy goals, regardless of policy areas and particular actors or approaches. Equitable health has been only a minor concern in most public health issues and their decision-making. Generic public health policies are needed to reduce inequity in health, but the importance of a firm basis for sound policy-making cannot be overemphasized. Health equity should be ‘mainstreamed’ in all public health policies. Potential approaches include intersectoral collaboration, health impact assessment, and ‘Health in All Policies’. Public policy agendas for equitable health cannot be formulated without measurement and recognition of the problem. Korea is still suffering from the lack of reliable information on the current status of health inequity, resulting in a relatively weak awareness of the problem among both the general public and policy-makers. More information is needed to increase recognition and awareness that will increase intervention and actions. The absence of decision-making and actions should not be justified even by the lack of information on determinants and pathways of health inequities. Generic plausible solutions can often work in the real world according to political and social commitment. I have discussed several aspects of public health policy from the perspective of health equity, focusing on current status and plausible explanation. Policy process, agenda setting in particular, is highlighted and theories and concepts are presented along with analysis and description of current situation.
Cooperative Behavior ; Health Impact Assessment ; Korea ; Public Health* ; Public Policy ; Republic of Korea ; Social Determinants of Health