A physician survey was done by mailing for the purpose of performing hospital services evaluation and ranking. A slightly over one thousand samples were drawn from the list of professional societies, and 324 physicians(about 32 percent) replied. This study has focused on developing easy and simple method to evaluate hospital services, and providing patients with useful information. Hospital service structure and process were evaluated without outcome evaluation, because it is difficult to obtain reliable data regarding health services outcome indicators. Clinical specialty was targeted to evaluate, and three specialties were chosen, that is obstetrics & gynecology, cardiology, and proctology. Among 16 structural indicators, four indicators were finally chosen in each specialty by respondent specialists. And then using these indicators, structural score was calculated for study hospitals. For process evaluation, physicians were requested to nominate five most famous hospitals. The nomination score and structural score were summed up to produce final score and hospital ranking. This method is very easy to conduct rather than other hospital services evaluation methods prevailing in Korea. And it is more useful for patients to choose hospitals, according to his/her own purpose, because it gives high ranking hospitals with specific clinical specialty.
Cardiology ; Colorectal Surgery ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Gynecology ; Health Services ; Humans ; Korea ; Obstetrics ; Postal Service ; Specialization

PURPOSE: To motivate students to participate in debates and to secure the quality of discussion, score-keeping team competition was introduced to middle- to large-sized discussion groups. METHODS: 95 students of a medical ethics class were divided into 20 teams. After each team presented its opinion on a few ethical issues debatable, all teams began debating on the issues. In each session, a certain number of points was given to the presenters. Randomly selected nine students made up a jury. The jury decided on the quality of the debate and judged whether the teams participated lost or kept their points. At the completion of the module, the students were surveyed about their experiences with the score-keeping competition. RESULTS: The motivation for participation from a score-keeping competition was so powerful that in most sessions, many students did not have a chance to speak due to overwhelming number of debaters. Students who participated less eagerly ascribed their experience to their lack of ability to speak out. A major problem expressed by many students was that they felt morally bad about taking away points from their friends. In actuality though, this moral inhibition was weaker than the motivation for competition they felt. The opinion survey showed that the students who felt moral inhibition participated even more eagerly in the debates than those who did not feel bad. CONCLUSION: In middle- to large-sized groups, score-keeping competition was a strong motivation for students to participate. And lessening the moral inhibition would lead to livelier debates. Thus, it would be helpful to develop modified methods of distributing points such as giving out new points and not simply relocating those already given out.
Ethics ; Ethics, Medical ; Friends ; Humans ; Motivation

OBJECTIVES: The regulatory changes in Korea during the national economic crisis 10 years ago and in the current global recession were analyzed to understand the characteristics of deregulation in labor policies. METHODS: Data for this study were derived from the Korean government's official database for administrative regulations and a government document reporting deregulation. RESULTS: A great deal of business-friendly deregulation took place during both economic crises. Occupational health and safety were the main targets of deregulation in both periods, and the regulation of employment promotion and vocational training was preserved relatively intact. The sector having to do with working conditions and the on-site welfare of workers was also deregulated greatly during the former economic crisis, but not in the current global recession. CONCLUSIONS: Among the three main areas of labor policy, occupational health and safety was most vulnerable to the deregulation in economic crisis of Korea. A probable reason for this is that the impact of deregulation on the health and safety of workers would not be immediately disclosed after the policy change.
Cost Control/legislation & jurisprudence/methods ; *Economic Recession ; Employment/*economics/legislation & jurisprudence/statistics & numerical data ; Government Regulation ; Humans ; Occupational Health/*legislation & jurisprudence/statistics & numerical data ; Public Policy ; Republic of Korea ; Workplace/economics/legislation & jurisprudence/standards

'Health in All Policies' is a new strategy for governance for health in 21st century. The evolution of health promotion has affected the creation of the strategy through the efforts to tackle health inequalities by addressing social determinants of health. More concern about health inequalities, involving wider policy areas, and higher level of institutionalization distinguish the strategy from the old intersectoral collaboration such as intersectoral action for health and healthy public policy. Making intersectoral collaboration the mainstream of policy making is important to address integrated policy agendas such as 'Health in All Policies' and 'Sustainable Development Goals.' Political leadership and interpersonal skills are also required to strengthen the capacity of public health sector for implementing 'Health in All Policies' in local, national, and international circumstances.
Cooperative Behavior ; Health Promotion* ; Institutionalization ; Leadership ; Policy Making ; Public Health ; Public Policy ; Social Determinants of Health ; Socioeconomic Factors

There was an error in the article, “The structure and orientation of governance for Healthy Cities programs.” The footnote at the bottom of page 8 should be corrected.

The Healthy Cities program is being actively pursued worldwide under the leadership of the World Health Organization as an effort to improve urban health through changes in the physical and social environment. As the core of the Healthy Cities program, governance establishes and implements diverse health plans and healthy public policies through political support, intersectoral cooperation, community participation, and multilevel networks. With the development of Healthy Cities programs, governance has evolved in the direction of autonomy, equity, and integration. These governance orientations should be continuously reflected in Healthy Cities strategies in order to successfully improve citizens' health.
Consumer Participation ; Leadership ; Public Policy ; Social Environment ; Urban Health ; World Health Organization

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of information regarding health and safety risks on the subjective health status of workers using data from the Fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey. Methods: Among the survey respondents, 30,094 people classified as salaried workers, of which 8,513 (28.3%) used protective equipment. Results: Although the majority of workers using protective equipment reported being well-informed about safety and health risks, 15% of them were still insufficiently informed. Multivariate analyses have shown that the subjective health status of workers using protective equipment was significantly better if they received sufficient information.When the workers using protective equipment were classified by the kinds of hazards they were exposed to, the satisfaction of information was also significantly beneficial for the subjective health status of all groups. However, in workers who did not use protective equipment, information satisfaction did not appear to be a significant factor. Conclusion These results suggest that when providing information on safety and health risks, it is necessary to focus on workers using protective equipment, for whom the effects of the policy are clearly expected.

PURPOSE: To estimate the reporting rate of tuberculosis in one medium-sized city in Korea. METHODS: Data claimed by national health insurance corporationand notification data of KTBS (Korea Tuberculosis Surveillance System) were compared through medical record-linkage method. Regarding the cases that were claimed medical care fee as tuberculosis but not notified to KTBS, we reviewed medical charts of the patients and investigated the reasons of failure to notify. RESULTS: Number of cases claimed health insurance fee as tuberculosis occurrences in Cheonan was 2,331 in 2007, while 956 cases were matched as notified cases to KTBS after electronic record-linkage by personal identifier. Among remaining 1,375 cases that were not matched, real missed cases through medical record review survey were found to be 104. The reasons of failure to notify were because of 'not tuberculosis patients' (500, 36.4%), 'notified in 2006' (421, 30.6%), 'diseases coding error' (341, 24.8%) and 'notified as other diseases' (9, 0.7%). Therefore, the corrected reporting rate was calculated at 93% (95% CI: 91.6% - 94.2%). Notably, reporting rate of clinics (58.1%) was significantly lower than those of hospitals (93.4%) or general hospitals (96.6%). CONCLUSIONS: All cases of tuberculosis diagnosis, which were claimed and not notified, were verified, the reporting rate was not as low as that of the data known through media. However, to reach the goal of tuberculosis elimination (reporting rate over 95%), more effort into improvement of the reporting system is necessary.
Clinical Coding ; Disease Notification ; Electronics ; Electrons ; Fees and Charges ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Mandatory Reporting ; Medical Record Linkage ; Medical Records ; National Health Programs ; Private Sector ; Tuberculosis

PURPOSE: This study was to analyze the current preventive measures on alcohol- involved accident and the factors that affect such preventive measures in the construction industry. METHOD: The survey was administered to examine how the preventive measures on alcohol-involved accident were executed using the data of '2005 Occupational Safety and Health Survey' conducted in 2005 by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute. For this study, we analyzed 944 work places in the construction industry. RESULT: The preventive measures on alcohol- involved accident were being executed in 62.1% of construction companies. As for the number of actual preventive measures on alcohol-involved accident, work places in Jeolla-do executed 2.63 times more frequently than those in Chungcheong-do, and work places with the Occupational Safety and Health Conference executed 2.22 times more frequently than those without such a measure. CONCLUSION: Joining the Occupational Safety and Health Conference was to be one of the most influential ways of preventive measures on alcohol-involved accident in the construction industry. Accordingly, if workers and employers look for active measures and administer them through the Occupational Safety and Health Conference, it will reduce alcohol-involved accident in the construction industry and contribute to the better preventive measures on alcohol-involved accident in the construction and other industries.
Academies and Institutes ; Construction Industry ; Occupational Health ; Workplace

PURPOSE: This study was to analyze the current preventive measures on alcohol- involved accident and the factors that affect such preventive measures in the construction industry. METHOD: The survey was administered to examine how the preventive measures on alcohol-involved accident were executed using the data of '2005 Occupational Safety and Health Survey' conducted in 2005 by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute. For this study, we analyzed 944 work places in the construction industry. RESULT: The preventive measures on alcohol- involved accident were being executed in 62.1% of construction companies. As for the number of actual preventive measures on alcohol-involved accident, work places in Jeolla-do executed 2.63 times more frequently than those in Chungcheong-do, and work places with the Occupational Safety and Health Conference executed 2.22 times more frequently than those without such a measure. CONCLUSION: Joining the Occupational Safety and Health Conference was to be one of the most influential ways of preventive measures on alcohol-involved accident in the construction industry. Accordingly, if workers and employers look for active measures and administer them through the Occupational Safety and Health Conference, it will reduce alcohol-involved accident in the construction industry and contribute to the better preventive measures on alcohol-involved accident in the construction and other industries.
Academies and Institutes ; Construction Industry ; Occupational Health ; Workplace