의료기관간 협력관계 실태 조사

The Actual Condition of Inter-Hospital Collaboration

&nbsp;&nbsp;As a way to strengthen competitiveness of hospitals in changing health care environment, it has been necessary for hospitals to make and carry out inter-hospital collaboration and management system of partnerships. The purpose of this study is to research into the actual condition of inter-hospital collaboration and to prove that it is helpful and useful when hospitals formulate their business strategies.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;For the purpose of this study, a total of 241 clinics and small to mediumsized hospitals located in Seoul were primarily surveyed by mail, and also by a phone from May 29 to July 10, 2005.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;The major results of this study were as follows :<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;First, about half of the respondent hospitals have entered into interhospital collaboration and the period of collaboration was mostly within three years, and the time spent referring patients to a collaborative hospital was mostly within one hour. The main reasons of entering into inter-hospital collaboration were ranked by the reputation of the partner hospital(the tertiary hospital), the improvement of patients&quot; treatment levels, and accessible geographic location.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Second, the factors that were first considered when doctors referred their patients to upper-class hospitals if the collaborative hospital was the proper hospital for a patient&quot;s treatment, and the quality of access for emergency patients. Referral methods of patients were mostly carried out by a written request, and the rest telephone and fax.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Third, the main positive factors that changed after entering into interhospital collaboration were the more rapid transfer of emergency patients, the improvement of patients&quot; reliability and hospital&quot;s image, and the increase of confidence for patients&quot; treatment and so on.