• Health Policy and Management
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.139-156
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• 1999

Recent changes in the health care environment have directed increasing attention to the number and specialty mix of practicing physicians. A major concern identified in Korean health care system is the serious oversupply of specialists and a relative lack of primary care physicians. Currently only 21% of Korean physicians are primary care physicians(general practitioners and family physicians), and less than 10% of recent medical school graduates are choosing to enter primary care. More primary care physicians are needed to deal with major problems in the current health care system, such as cost and access. The infrastructure that relies on primary care physicians is needed to deliver cost-effective and efficient care. To achieve a better balance of primary care to non-primary care physicians. more medical students need to choose careers in one of the primary care specialties(family medicine. internal medicine and pediatrics). This paper suggests the necessity of reforming the Korean graduate medical education system, that is, establishing the path of training primary care physicians in internal medicine and pediatrics residency training programs.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.58-90
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• 1996

This study provides an empirical analysis of location competition for demand maximization by central place theory among physicians in nonmetropolitan areas of Korea. The results show that the primary care physicians distribute themselves evenly from urban communities to rural communities. The subspecialists, however, cluster together in major cities rather than decentralize themselves in rural counties. This study establishes the three statistical models : Primary care physicians, subspecialist physicians, and total physicians. Two models of primary care physicians and total physicians have a strong significance in multiple regression analysis (p=-.0001). The primary care model explains approximately 45% of the variation and the total physicians model explains approximately 70% of the variation in physician/1,000 population ratios across national counties. The subspecialist physicians model analysze the tobit regreassion because of the left consored and truncated values(57 cases = 0). In all three models, analysis of the coefficiencts for physician centralization degrees in the 0- to 5- and 5- to 10-km rings around the core county reveals each a positive and negative association betwee these degrees and the physician/1,000 population ratios in the core county. Also, the results provide moderate evidence that the relationship between clinic physicians and community hospitals is competitive, and the relationship between clinic physicians and pharmaceutists is synergistic. This suggests that public policy makers and local self-governing bodies must take an active role to ensure procider availability and the regional health planning in all nonmetropolitan areas of Korea.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.221-226
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• 1994

Copper T 380A intrauterine devices were inserted to nine thousand and nine hundred twenty women by 51 KAVS-member physicians since January 1, 1993 through December 31, 1993. This study was undertaken for the clinical analysis on a total of 9,920 women wearing Copper T 380A to grasp the effectivness as well as the expulsion rate due to a various side effects. The following features were the results of the study: 1. During the twelve months period, from January 1993 to December 1993, the largest number of IUD insertion per one physician is 740 cases and the smallest number 60 cases, the mean 195 cases. 2. After insertion of Copper T 380A, a total of 117 cases were removed the IUD;81 cases(0.8%) were due to extensive bleeding and 36 cases(O.36%) were due to pain. The pregnancy failure rate represented comparatively lower rate, 0.08% (8 cases) and the expulsion rate was 0.06%(6 cases). 3. The removal rate of Copper T 380A was different by physicians. The highest removal rate for bleeding was 3.13% and 13 physicians(25.5%) did not experience any bleeding cases. 4. For the removal rate for pain, 30 physicians(58.8%) did not experience any removal of IUD due to pain while 21 physicians(41.2%) removed IUD due to pain: 17 physiciansC33.4 %) had 0.1-1.5% of removal rate and 4 physiciansC7.0%) had 1.6-2.1% of removal rate. 5. A total of 43 physicians(84.3 %) did not experience any pregnancy failure case while 8 (15.7%) physicians was experienced pregnancy failure rate. Four physicians(7.8%) had 0.1-0.5% of pregnancy failure rate and 4 physicians had 0.6-1.0% of pregnancy failure rate. 6. Expulsion rate showed comparatively lower, 0.06% in this study. A total of 45 physicians (88.2%) did not experience any expulsion cases while 6 physicians(11.7%) had expulsion rate with the highest expulsion rate of 2.0%.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.108-116
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to determine the level of recognition of home care services and to provide basic data for implementation of home care services. Data collection was carried out between December 2004 and January 2005 by surveying 88 nurses and 40 physicians working at a general hospital and 28 physicians working at different clinics in the Seoul metropolitan city area. The results of this study were as follows: 1. Home care services were recognized by $94.2\%$ of nurses, $77.5\%$ of physicians and $92.9\%$ of clinic physicians. The main sources of information for most of them were medical and nursing journals. 2. The percentages of staff regarding find home care services as necessary for the institutions were $88.6\%$ of nurses, $74.4\%$ of physicians and $57.1\%$ of clinic physicians. All of them anticipated that home care services would maintain 'continuous care' and 'long-term patient care'. 3. The percentages of staff willing to refer their patients to home care were $95.5\%$ of nurses, $100\%$ of physicians and $87.1\%$of clinic physicians. However, only $7.1\%$ of clinic physicians were willing to refer actively. 4. Most nurses and physicians replied that a majority of test-related services is suitable for home care services. However, among medication-related services, intravenous injections were not suitable for home care services. Among treatment-related services, most nurses and physicians replied that Levin tube feeding, oral and nasal suction, simple dressing, perineal care, and enema were suitable for home care services, but incision and drainage, and tracheostomy tube change were not suitable for home care services. In conclusion, for the implementation of hospital-based home care services, it is necessary to educate nurses and physicians on the present condition and precedent at other hospitals.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.402-410
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• 2003

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a fundamental reference for the clinical implementation of Complementary and Alternative Therapy(CAT) by surveying and analyzing different perception and attitude between nurses and physicians. Method: A total of 167 nurses and 103 physicians from two C university health science centers participated in this survey, and SPSS program with version 10.0 was used to analyze the result of survey. Result: As results, 72.7% nurses and 57.1% physicians showed positive attitude for the concept of CAT, 60.6% nurses and 36.7% physicians responded positively while 2.6% nurses and 25.9% physicians responded negatively for the application of CAT to the clinical practice. There was a meaningful difference between two groups in the belief of therapeutic effectiveness of CAT. 67.7% nurses believed the therapeutic effectiveness of CAT while 38.8% physicians did. For attitudes of nurses and physicians toward CAT showed meaningful difference according to general characteristics: age, gender, marital status, a level of education, position in the organization, religion, and duration of health care service other than inpatient units. Conclusion: In this study, the attitudes of nurses and physicians about CAT showed meaningful difference that nurses were more positive than physicians in application.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.93-103
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• 2011

This paper has aimed to identify marketing variables which affect physicians' prescription of drug. Based on a literature review this paper derives the three factors (indirect commercial source, direct commercial source, academic information source) of information sources that physicians rely on for medicines, the three factors (research supporting activity, marketing supporting activity, medicine information supporting activity) of promotion activities physicians prefer, and the four factors (indirect quality of medicine, direct quality of medicine, experience of using medicine, price and design of medicine) of prescription criteria physicians use. Then it investigates using canonical correlation analysis whether or not physicians' prescriptions are affected by the information sources, the promotion activities, and the type of physicians. From the canonical correlation analysis this paper derives the meaningful three canonical functions of prescription for drugs. The first function explains the prescription which is insensitive to marketing activities, the second function does the prescription which is sensitive to them, and the final function does the prescription which is not affected by them.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.78-84
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• 2023

Background: Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians have been the unsung heroes of the pandemic. However, many are about to give up the battlefield. This study investigated the effect of occupational moral injury on physicians' career abandonment intention, taking into account the possible mediating role of emotional exhaustion. Methods: Cross-sectional data collected from 201 physicians were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS to determine the relationship among physicians' moral injuries, emotional exhaustion, and career abandonment intention. Results: The results indicated that occupational moral injury was positively related to emotional exhaustion and career abandonment intention. In addition, emotional exhaustion was found to play a mediating role in the relationship. Conclusion: To reduce physicians' intention to leave their career, physicians should be prepared for moral injury and psychological issues by offering psychological support and meeting their needs early at both the individual and organizational levels during and after the pandemic.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.21 no.1 s.23
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• pp.61-69
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• 1988

In this study, the number of physicians presently living in Korea was thoroughly estimated by several means and, on this basis, their productivity and level of supply were estimated. The results were as follows First, the number of physicians who did not notify the Korea Medical Association in May 1987 were 10,110, including 4,093 emigrant physicians(40.5%) ,861 military medical officers,745 public health doctors, and 107 deceased physicians. A total of 1,330 physicians could not be identified by any effort. Second, among the 34,897 registered physicians as of May 1987, 29,933(85.8%) were residing in Korea, 4,115 physicians(11.8%) had emigrated to other countries, and 849 physicians(2.4%) were deceased. Practicing physicians difined as those in Korea who were not retired, serving in the military, or completing residencies or internships, comprised 78.6%(27,414 physicians) of the total number of registered physicians. Third, it is estimated that in the year 2000 the number of registered physicians, physicians residing in Korea, and practicing physician will be 75,040, 64,038, and 57,655, respectively and these are increases of 115.0%, 113.9%, and 110.3%, respectively, compared to 1987. Fourth, the population physician ratio will be 759 to one physician in the year 2000. Fifth, the productivity of physicians, as calculated by relative values defining the productivity of 35 to 44 year-old male physicians as 10, will increase 110.7% in the year 2000 compare to that of 1987, and this increment is almost the same level as that of physician supply. From the results of the present analysis of physician manpower and supply projection, it can be recognized that the development of a regular notification system is necessary in order to identify precisely the number of physicians. Also a policy of physician supply is essential in order to adjust in advance the number of physicians, otherwise there will be surplus to the medical demand.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.36-49
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• 1997

Background : Hypertension is one of the most important risk factors of the cerebrovascular accident and coronary artery disease which are the major causes of mortality in Korea. In Korea, the quality of care provided by office-based physicians has not been evaluated formally. The purpose of this study is to assess the quality of hypertension management of office-based physicians. Method : Self-administered questionnaires were mailed to the office-based physicians with the speciality of internal medicine, general surgery, family medicine, and general practitioners. Among 2,045 physicians, 981 doctors(48.0%) replied the questionnaires. Contents of questionnaires were based on the recommendation from the JNC-V report(the Fifth Report of the Joint National Committee on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure), and included the criteria of diagnosis, treatment, follow-up interval, and other characteristics of physicians(age, sex, type of speciality, and location of practice). Results : Eighty four percent of the office-based physicians made diagnosis of hypertension with less than 3 times of blood pressure measurements. The performance rate of required examination for hypertensives was very low in most items. Rate of fundoscopic examination is the lowest one among them(5.9%). The performance rate of laboratory examination was also low in most items. Internists tended to order more frequent laboratory examinations than any other type of physicians. Only 11.4% of the physicians did appropriate treatments for the mild hypertension case. The antihypertensives selected by the physicians as a first line drug were in the order of beta blocker(26.4%), calcium channel blocker(23.4%), diuretics(23.1%), ACE inhibitors(14.3%). The visit interval for established hypertensives was very short. Proportion of physicians with follow-up interval longer than 4 weeks was only 4.3%. Conclusions : The overall quality of hypertension management of office-based physicians in Korea is very problematic in many aspects. So further investigations to find out the reasons of low quality arid quality of care should be initiated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7237-7241
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• 2013

Background: Smokeless tobacco use in South Asia is believed to be a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality. In India, only a few studies involving health educational intervention by health care providers have demonstrated reduction in smokeless tobacco usage. In the present study we assessed the cessation efforts towards smokeless tobacco by physicians in two high tobacco prevalence states of India. The study also identified opportunities and barriers for integration of tobacco cessation services in routine practices of physicians. Materials and Methods: This mixed method study involved qualitative (phase I) and quantitative research study (phase II). In phase I, 59 in-depth interviews with physicians were conducted. In phase II, a quantitative study conducted among 238 physicians. An inductive approach was followed to analyze qualitative data using ATLAS. Ti software. The Chi-square test was employed to test the association between different variables of interest using SPSS version 17. Results: The majority of physicians related only respiratory problems and cancer with smokeless tobacco. Other major health effects like cardio-vascular problems, oral diseases, and effects on reproductive and neonatal health were recognized only by a few physicians. The age-group of 10-19 years was identified as most vulnerable to smokeless tobacco use. Less than one-third of physicians reported recording smokeless tobacco history of all patients. Findings indicated that less than half of physicians provided information on harmful health effects of smokeless tobacco with regard to specific diseases. Conclusions: The study revealed a low level of knowledge of physicians about harmful effects of tobacco and their suboptimal engagement in tobacco control practices. The study indicates the need of capacity building initiatives to equip physicians with skills in tobacco cessation.