Patients' Perception of Quality of Health Service and Utilization considering convergence factors: A Survey of Elderly Patients of Public Health Centers, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Abstract Health service quality is increasingly emphasized, and primary care service is no exception in this. This study identified patients' perception of quality considering convergence factors associated with increased utilization among patients over the age of 65 using community health centers. A total of 307 respondents were included in the analysis. The results showed that positive perceptions on facility and environment, patient-centered care, technical knowledge and skills of physicians, and emotional support with nurses and non-medical workers were statistically and significantly associated with higher utilization. In order to increase utilization of primary care service at community health centers, they need to manage and improve these factors. Key Words : Health service quality, Elderly, Community health center, Convergence factors * 이 연구는 2014년도 고려대학교 보건과학연구소 특별연구비를 지원받아 수행되었음.Received 9 June 2015, Revised 22 July 2015Accepted 20 August 2015Corresponding Author: Mankyu Choi(Korea University) Email: mkchoi@korea.ac.krⒸ The Society of Digital Policy & Management. All rights reserved. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is ISSN: 1738-1916 properly cited.