Cancer is the most commonly occurring and deadly group of illnesses in Korea. Nationwide, it strikes one out of three people and its incidences are on the rise with modern life style and eating habits. Consequently, large scale hospitals have put emph...
Cancer is the most commonly occurring and deadly group of illnesses in Korea. Nationwide, it strikes one out of three people and its incidences are on the rise with modern life style and eating habits. Consequently, large scale hospitals have put emphasis on drawing more cancer patient, and patients have largely been concentrated in hospitals located in Seoul.
By comparing the factors that influence cancer patients' selection of medical institution, this study attempts to offer basic data for hospital administration strategy as well as enhancing patients' satisfaction.
The research methodology of this study includes both literature review and substantial field analysis. In literature research, it examines existing studies on hospital marketing and patients' selection. In substantial field analysis, it investigates 257 patients in 7 different university hospitals located in Kyung-gi, Kang-won, and Seoul regions. By using SPSS PC+ 12.0 method, the study conducts descriptive statistics analysis, explanatory factor analysis, reliability analysis, validity analysis, one way ANOVA, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The main findings are as follows.
First, the population makeup of the research subjects had more females, and their age distribution was the highest in 50s, followed by 40s, 60s, and 30s. High school graduates made up the most in the education distribution, and those with average household income between two and four million won in the income distribution. There was no significant variance between the first and subsequent hospital visits, and 45.5% of subjects visited more than 7 times in the past year.
Second, the descriptive statistics analysis suggests that patients' information sources are, from the highest to lowest, recommendation from the family and relatives, words of acquaintances, and media reports. For the selection criteria, most patients reported good reputation of doctors and medical practices are crucial factors, followed by up-to-date medical equipments and technique. The satisfaction rate was mostly influenced by detailed explanation offered by physicians, and most reported the intention to visit again.
Third, in judging accessibility and facilities, most patients relied on media reports and articles. However, they sought recommendation from the family, other people around them and media reports and articles to determine the quality of medical service.
Fourth, modernized facility, easy accessibility, and reliable faculty all seem to correlate to the patients' satisfaction rate. The environment satisfaction rate correlates to the accessibility of facility.
Fifth, if both environment and service satisfaction rates are high, patients are likely to revisit the facility.
Sixth, first visitors and subsequent visitors differed in terms of their information source utilization, and there was no other significant factors.
Seventh, there were no significant relations found between the number of visits and information source, hospital selection, satisfaction rate, and intent to revisit.
Since medicine is a high-involvement field, many seek advices from others rather than making the decision by themselves. As a good word of the faculty is the most deciding factor of how patients judge the credibility of medical service, hospitals need to develop a plan to effectively manage the public relations by word of mouth. The efforts to maintain credibility not only enhances the chance of patients' selection but also have positive effects on hospital administration. Furthermore, medical institutions need to invest in up-to-date equipments and techniques for patients also regard them as important factors in choosing a hospital. Lastly, the patients satisfaction is overwhelmingly decided by the faculty, meaning that faculty is at the core of every medical practice and patient at the verge of death.
Thus, hospitals need to use the wisdom of differentiation by utilizing their unique environment as a marketing strategy. It is also recommended for hospitals to secure competent doctors and equipments, educate and train faculties, and standardize their medical and non-medical services.
The limitations of this studies are as follows.
First, the number of hospitals studied are limited and they do not represent all groups. A more comprehensive sampling on nationwide level is necessary.
Second, in terms of patient sampling, the patient distribution in each hospital was not even. Therefore it could not successfully control for certain patient traits.
Third, the study only includes one hospital from the nation's top ten hospitals with the most cancer surgeries in 2006. For more substantial results, high-ranking hospitals need to be examined.
Fourth, the analysis only utilizes cross-section data and does not establish solid causal relationship. Therefore, it needs to include more longitudinal data.
Fifth, the study deals with only a limited number of measured variables. By developing more variables, the future research can formulate more substantial theory.