Study on Selection Factor in Choosing Dental Clinic

치과의료기관의 선택요인에 관한 연구

This study examined and analyzed the demographical characteristics of the study target and their expectancy level on the factors in selecting dental medical institutes (basic elements of dental clinics, traffic convenience, physical environment of dental clinic and explicit qualification of dentist) with the questionnaire survey method with 222 questionnaires answered and returned (return rate 88.8%) out of 250 copies distributed to the 1st, 2nd and 3rdyear college students attending technical colleges located in Cheongwon-Gun, Chungbuk, Korea from March 26 to April 7, 2009. The results of this study are as follows: 1. The demographical characteristics of the study target group consisting of 225 college students include 92.3% of age 20s (205 students); 123 males (55.4%) and 99 females (44.6%); the number of those who had at least one experience to visit dental clinic was 199 (89.6%) and 23 (10.4%) of those with no-visiting experience. 2. The descriptive statistics for the selection factor showed that basic elements, traffic convenience, physical environment and explicit qualification of dentist were regarded important as in order. In particular, the factors considered in selecting dental clinic was ordered from most to least in their importance beginning with cleanness of dental clinic as the most important factor, dentist's trustworthiness, kindness of medical staffs, low medical fee, dentist's knowledge level, modernized medical equipments and convenience in using medical facilities as the least. On the contrary, brand name of dental clinic, age, college, sex and appearance of dentist were rated low in order in terms of their importance in selecting dental clinic. 3. As for the difference in the selection factors across demographical characteristics, while male students placed importance on traffic convenience and physical environment of dental clinic, female students placed more importance on dentist's qualification and basic elements of dental clinic. With respect to the difference in the selection factors across the visiting experiences, while those with visiting experience regard traffic convenience more importantly, those without visiting experience regarded physical environment of dental clinic, dentist's qualification and basic elements of dental clinic. 4. In terms of pearson correlation coefficient, the result showed that all aspects in selecting dental clinic were positively correlated. Particularly, the correlation between physical environment of dental clinic and dentist's explicit qualification were correlated highest. Significant positive correlations were found high in traffic convenience, physical environment of dental clinic, dentist's explicit qualification and basic elements of dental clinic in order.