PURPOSE This study was performed to identify the key elements for the improvement of healthcare services for foreigners in Korea. METHOD Delphi technique was used for this study. As the members of an expert panel for this study, 32 healthcare professionals, who were physicians, nurses, administrators, and care coordinators, with at least 6 months of experiences in international clinics and healthcare services in five metropolitan areas in Korea participated. Data collections were conducted three times from August to October, 2009. The priority and the importance were analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS Win 15.0. RESULT The key element selected most frequently by the experts was the 'Healthcare providers' abilities for foreign languages' followed by 'Guidelines for facing medical accidences and disputes', 'Information and guide for healthcare services written in English', ''Informed consent preventing medical disputes', 'System of healthcare service fees for foreigners'. CONCLUSIONS The key elements for the improvement of healthcare services for foreigners in Korea were mostly the requirements for effective communication with the foreign clients and the systemic support. The key elements identified in this study can be applied usefully for the development of strategies to improve the quality of healthcare services for foreigners.
PURPOSE This study was done to identify the experience of health care services by foreign residents in Korea. METHOD Participants were 12 foreigners from China, North America, and Japan. Qualitative data were collected using three focus group interviews and analyzed with qualitative content analysis. RESULTS The participants' experience of health services was categorized as 21 sub-categories, 11 categories and three main categories. The main categories were 'Quality of health care', 'Health care personnel', and 'Health care system and infrastructure'. The main category of 'Quality of health care' included three categories, 'Health care personnel' included another four categories, and 'Health care system and infrastructure' included the remaining four categories. The participants reported positive experiences such as favorable feelings and satisfaction particularly, with the high quality of health care but also negative experiences such as apprehension, distrust, difficulties, and inconvenience in the health care service in Korea. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study can be helpful in the development of strategies to improve health care services for foreigners by providing fundamental information about the foreign residents' experience of health care services in Korea from their perspectives.
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