• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.68-80
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• 2013

Background: This study investigates improvements in non-value-added nursing activities in clinical work, in order to improve the efficiency and quality of nursing activities. Methods: The study was performed as a quality improvement project at a tertiary general hospital. The nursing activities that needed improvements were categories into admission care, discharge care, supply management, diagnostic work-up related activities, and others. The nursing time and frequency of non-value-added activities were compared across nine nursing units before and after implementation of the quality improvement program. Post-implementation patient and nurse satisfaction were subsequently analyzed. Result: Post-implementation, the time spent on non-value-added nursing activities was reduced and patients and nurses were satisfied with the improvements. Discussion: Reducing non-value-added activities in nursing can increase the work efficiency and ensure time for patient care, thus improving the quality of nursing care. For further study, accurate surveys on nursing activities based on nursing time are required.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.18-41
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• 2013

This study was aimed to identify the current status of medical service quality of medical institutes; propose improvements; and find out the impact of medical service quality by its attribute on overall customer satisfaction. The research was conducted on the out-patients and in-patients in a high-level general hospital located in A city. To examine the research, the IPA was utilized to identify the priority requirements for improving the medical service quality. The study also applied an extended theory to the analysis on mismatch between the level of satisfaction and importance recognized by the clients, to examine the impact of the above mentioned factors on the overall satisfaction and intention to revisit and recommend the hospital. For out-patients, the result showed that "hospital hygiene" had a positive and negative impact on the clients' intention to revisit the hospital in priority improvements. In terms of the sustainable improvements, "doctor's skill" had a negative impact on the overall service satisfaction, whereas "state-of-the-art facility" and "nurse's instruction" had a positive impact on the intention to revisit the hospital. In long-term improvements,"complaint remedy" had a positive impact on the intention to recommend the hospital but there were no relevant factors in excessive investment. On the other hand, for in-patients, the result demonstrated that there were no relevant factors in priority improvements and sustainable improvements. The factor of"service procedure speed"had a positive as well as negative impact on the intention to revisit the hospital. In excessive investment,"nurse's empathy"had a positive impact on the intention to recommend the hospital.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.155-182
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• 1997

Objectives : This study was designed to compare North Korea and South Korea in measures of the quality of life (physical quality of life index and human development index) and to investigate the impact of selected medical and socioeconomic factors on PQL variables. Data and Methods : The World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and Population Reference Bureau were the principal sources of statistical data of 121 countries. Variables included infant mortality, life expectancy at birth, literacy rate, secondary school enrollment (male and female), GNP per capita, population per doctor, daily calorie supply per capita, and a composite PQL index. The Ordinary Least Square model was employed for cross-countries analysis. Findings : Both countries under quite different political and economic systems saw big improvememts in the quality of life, reducing mortality and prolonging life expectancy during the past three decades. In recent decad, however, North Korea has experienced abrupt exacerbation in the quality of life. Significant improvements in infant mortality of the population wer attributable mainly to GNP per capita and the secondary school enrollemt of female. The principal predictors of life expectancy at birth were population per doctor, infant mortality, and literacy rate. The secondary school enrollment of female and population per doctor were significantly associated with improvements in the physical quality of life index (PQLI). Conclusion : The results of this study confirmed a point illustrated by other studies : The association between quality of life as a measure of health status and socioeconomic factors was strong and positive. The important contribution of educational attainment in general, female education level in particular to improvements in the quality of life deserves good news for building an integrated health care system in the reunified Korea, taking into account the high level of education two koreas are enjoying. Meanwhile, when a sharp drop in the quality of life has been observed in North Korea under serious economic difficulties and food shortage in recent decade, the significant contribution of economic development to improvements in the quality of life poses bad nows for reunifying Korean health care in economic terms.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.2305-2327
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• 2022

Recent improvements in technology have increased the consumption of virtual reality (VR) contents on immersive displays. The VR experience depends on the type of displays as well as the quality of VR contents. However, research on the impacts of VR content quality on VR experience and comparisons among different types of immersive display devices are lacking. In this study, VR contents created with our VR framework, are provided to participants on conventional two-dimensional (2D) immersive displays and VR headset. The geometric alignment of VR contents is improved with the addition of two calibration modes (i.e. preprocessing and straightening). The subjective feelings of presence and cybersickness experienced by participants while consuming VR contents created by our framework and commercial solutions are recorded in the form of questionnaires. The results of this study indicate that the improvements in VR quality lead to a better presence and less cybersickness in both conventional 2D displays and VR headset. Furthermore, the level of presence and cybersickness increases in VR headsets as compared to conventional 2D displays. Finally, the VR content quality improvements lead to a better VR experience for our VR framework as compared to commercial solutions.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.73-96
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• 2015

This paper investigates how servicescape perception influences customer experience quality in hedonic service settings. In addition to the direct effect of servicescape quality on customer experience quality, the indirect effects of servicescape quality on customer experience quality via employee-to-customer interaction quality and peer-to-peer interaction quality are also investigated. We collected data through a self-administered survey. The proposed relationships were tested using structural equation modeling. The results show that servicescape quality influences customer experience quality both directly and indirectly through employee-to-customer interaction quality and peer-to-peer interaction quality, and customer experience quality influences customer loyalty. Additionally, we find that the indirect path via peer-to-peer interaction quality is significant only in a low-satisfaction customer group. The indirect effect of servicescape quality perception through peer-to-peer interaction quality is significant only in low-satisfaction customer groups. Therefore, if evaluations for this indirect effect fall below an acceptable level, it should be addressed first before improving on other attributes. However, after this point, further improvements offer few if any gains; therefore, service firms should allocate their resources to quality improvements to other factors. This study is the first to investigate the indirect effects of servicescape quality on customer experience quality via peer-to-peer interaction quality in hedonic service settings. Additionally, this study demonstrates that the significance of this indirect effect applies only to a low-satisfaction customer group.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.76-85
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• 1985

The significant role of transportation system for economic development process has been recognized, but the argument that transportation improvements stimulate economic development has brought sometimes no resonance in lacking of a plausible theory on the conditions and process of economic development by transportation investment. This paper reviews the theory on regional differentiation of transportation system and shows why and how the installation of a new transportation system or the improvements of the old transportation quality differentiate the spatial order of economic activities. It presents the interaction between the change of transportation quality with introducing of definition "transportation value" as tool of its determination and economic activities following the regional differentiation process, which result means regional defferentiation of niveau of economic development.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.847-855
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• 2020

This study presented problems and improvements in the quality control of an air monitoring network, using Gyeongnam as an example. 1) The effective utilization rate of the air monitoring was 95%, which showed good management, but the maximum of 2% was indicated by zero or detection limit among measurement data. 2) In the equivalence evaluation of PM_2.5, the slope and intercept satisfy the evaluation criteria; however, 1% of the PM_2.5/PM₁₀ ratios were outliers. 3) All air monitoring stations meet the quality control standards; however, the management status is added to the quality inspection, management system is unified and the related budget is expanded, and systematic commission management is required.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.613-626
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• 2009

This research examines the effect of the place marketing image in the Insadong Cultural District as a tourism destination on the foreign tourists' satisfaction and intention to revisit. The result of the factor analysis revealed thirty attributes of the place that are important to tourist and that could be clustered into four major factors: 'identity', 'attractive things and quality of life', 'cultural sights and economy', and 'city improvements'. 'Attractive things and quality of life', 'cultural sights and economy' and 'city improvements' are the three factors that are significant in the relationship between the place marketing image and type of visit. On the relationship between place marketing image and tourist nationality the only significant factor was 'attractive things and quality of life'. In the relationship between place marketing image and satisfaction, the significant factors were: 'identity', 'cultural sights and economy', and 'city improvements', while the relationship between place marketing image and intention to revisit have 'attractive things and quality of life', 'cultural sights and economy', and 'city improvements' as significant factors.

• IE interfaces
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.209-218
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• 1998

This paper is concerned with the assessment of benefits from water quality improvements. The contingent valuation method (CVM) is employed to directly measure the value of the project for the improvement of the water pollution in the Kumgang area. The perceived value of the improved water quality is investigated by using questionnaires to those concerned living near water-polluted area. The questionnaire includes such questions as the amount to willingly pay, the motivation to pay, the reasons of rejecting the payment, and some socio-economic data. The results of the survey show that (1) non-use value of the environmental goods is perceived to be more important than use-value of the environmental goods; (2) "willingness to pay" for the improved water quality varies according to the degree of educational level. income level and ages; (3) the resistance to pay for the project comes from the "polluter's pay principle".

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2007

This paper presents a methodology to nominate and select improvement projects that are perceived as adding value to customers (both internal and external). The structure of the methodology can be explained in three "stages." First, the methodology suggests a new way of categorizing improvement opportunities, i.e. reactive-proactive, to "upgrade" the little Q-big Q categorisation. Then, it develops a roadmap that links performance indicators and improvement projects for both reactive and proactive improvements. Finally, it suggests an algorithm to select the improvement project, where the assessment of to what extent the nominated improvement projects add value to customers relies on the comparison between Overall Perceived Benefits (OPB) and Overall Perceived Efforts (OPE). The improvement project perceived as having the largest impact on adding value to customers receives the highest priority.