At present, health care industries throughout the world are struggling with the challenges to set up financial structures as cost-effective ways and means of satisfying customer needs for health care services. Many hospitals consign foodservice management to foodservice companies for the purpose of efficiency. The companies taking charge of hospital foodservice are also striving to gain an advantage over keen competitions. This study applied Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to one hospital (which will be shown as [A hospital] below) managed by a contract foodservice company for the purpose of strategy planning to provide sustainable competitive advantage. First of all, this study scanned internal and external environment of [A hospital] by means of a Quality Measurement Tool and a fieldwork study. With the result of environment scanning, this study elicited 20 strategies through SWOT analysis, which were categorized by 4 perspectives such as financial, customer, internal process, learning and growth perspectives. Finally, the priorities of 20 strategies were extracted from QFD methodology. According to the results obtained by applying QFD to [A hospital] 's foodservice, the strategies which [A hospital] foodservice was obliged to introduce and implement were : the specialization of Children's hospital foodservice, scientific foodservice management through the standardization of foodservice operations, the maintenance of sanitary quality through sanitary system, the remodeling of facilities, the introduction of new equipment, the prompt and accurate response to customer needs, the development of appropriate patient menus, the provision of competitively priced meals for patient selection, the development of a demand forecast model by considering the characteristics of a children's hospital, improvement of productivity and the reduction of labor costs through the employment of experienced employees based on their seniority.
Delivery of Health Care ; Efficiency ; Employment ; Health Care Sector ; Humans ; Learning ; Meals ; Patient Selection

This is taecase report of a 64 year old male patient with the chief complaint of esophagial vahix bjeeding, who has been scheduled for emergency sever hypoalbuminemia, and abnormal liver function test. Anesthesia was induced with nitrous oxide, Innovar, morphine sulfate, pancuronium bromide and Valium. The long operation of 3 hours required transfusions of 5 pints banked bloods without any and difficulty. Anesthesia was reversed with Nsrcan, neostigmain and Atropine. In the recovery room, the patient's ventilation was satisfactory but he did not recover from deep coma until 5 hours after surgery. After repeated injection of Narcan intramuscularly the patient awoke from his deep asleep at midnight without any delayed sequelae.
Anesthesia ; Atropine ; Balanced Anesthesia* ; Coma ; Diazepam ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Hypoalbuminemia ; Liver Cirrhosis* ; Liver Function Tests ; Liver* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Morphine ; Naloxone ; Nitrous Oxide ; Pancuronium ; Recovery Room ; Ventilation

The purpose of this study was to investigate the operational characteristics of the contract-managed highschool foodservice and to analyze the factors to effect the menu price. The data was collected from 249 highschools in Seoul. The results are as follows; Those surveyed highschools were established as 1 national, 74 public, and 174 private institution. Highschools were classified as 176 academic, 66 vocational, and 7 specific purposed institution. Students were organized as 70 boys', 23 girls', and 41 coeducational highschools. Most highschool started contract-managed highschool foodservice from 1999 and the period of foodservice contract was most 3 years and the operation styles in food distribution were 96 classrooms, 105 dining halls and 17 classrooms combined dining halls. The scale of contract foodservice management companies was 63.1% small and medium and 36.9% large enterprises. The surveyed highschools had the average meal price 2,141 won per meal and they had 1,518 pupils on the register. The participating rate to the foodservice was 68.5%. The facilities investment cost of the contract foodservice management company was 179,204,230 won for private institutions and was 138,119,010 won for national&public institutions. The period of the contract was 3.22 years in private institutions, which was significantly higher than national&public institutions which showed 2.85 years. The commissary foodservice schools had higher facilities investment cost than conventional foodservice schools. Classrooms foodservice had higher participating foodservice rate than Dining halls. The investment cost for facilities showed high in order of girls', boys', and coeducational high schools, and the number on the register and the number participating in the foodservice showed high in order of boys', girls', and coeducational high schools. The number on the register showed the highest in academic and vocational schools, specific purposed institutions in sequence, and the number participating in the foodservice showed high in order of academic schools, specific purposed institutions and vocational. However, the participating foodservice rate showed high in specific purposed institution, academic and vocational schools in order, and the meal price, the investment cost for facilities showed high in specific purposed institution, academic and vocational schools in sequence. Regionally, the district south of Han river had the average meal price 2,266.13 won, which showed higher in the eastern part which had 2,033.33 won. The western part had the average investment cost for facilities of 233,331,060 won, and the central district 126,137,140 won. The number on the register showed 1845.68 in the eastern part and 1308.00 in Dong-Jak area, that had clear differences among areas. When the period of the contract went longer, the investment cost for facilities had a tendency to increase. The significant differences were existed among meal price, the investment cost for facilities, the number on the register, the number participating in the foodservice, and the participating foodservice rate. The investment cost for facilities had increased according to the number participating in the foodservice and the participating foodservice rate. And the large enterprises showed higher participating foodservice rate than the small and medium enterprises.
Costs and Cost Analysis ; Humans ; Investments ; Meals ; Pupil ; Rivers ; Seoul*

Since its introduction, laparoscopic surgery has been often preferred over open surgery in obstetrics and gynecology due to its advantages, such as less bleeding, lower incidence of adhesions, reduced postoperative pain, short hospital stay, and quick return to daily life. However, in the case of complex surgeries, laparoscopy presented some limitations. Nonetheless, since the 1980s, medical robots have been introduced to overcome the technical limitations of laparoscopy and start a new age for minimally invasive surgery. In this review, we explore the indications and advantages and disadvantages of robotic surgery in the field of gynecology, and try to assess the recent trend of robotic surgery.