[Multi-level analysis of factors related to quality of service in long-term care hospitals].
OBJECTIVE
In this research multi-level analysis was done to identify factors related to quality of services. Patient characteristics and organizational factors were considered.


METHODS
The data were collected from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) data base. The sample was selected from 17,234 patients who had been admitted between January 2007 and May 2008 to one of 253 long-term care hospitals located in Seoul, six other metropolitan cities or nine provinces The data were analyzed with SAS 9.1 using multi-level analysis.


RESULTS
The results indicated that individual level variables related to quality of service were age, cognitive ability, patient classification, and initial quality scores. The organizational level variables related to quality of service were ownership, number of beds, and turnover rate. The explanatory power of variables related to organizational level variances in quality of service was 23.72%.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study indicate that differences in the quality of services were related to organizational factors. It is necessary to consider not only individual factors but also higher-level organizational factors such as nurse' welfare and facility standards if quality of service in long term care hospitals is to be improved.
Lee
Seon-heui
SH
Health Technology Assessment Team, Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service, Seoul, Korea. sunarea68@hiramail.net
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012307:Risk Factors