A Study on Appellations for Admitted Patient

Kang, Hyun Sook; Kim, Won Ock; Jang, Kwang Ja; Kim, Il Won

Abstract

The Purposes of this study were to understand the types of appellations used by nurses and doctors for patients in a hospital and to analyze satisfaction and reason about appellation for patient. This would enable us to provide basic data on culturally suitable appellations for admitted patients. 454 Patients at K University hospital in Seoul were subjects for this study. Subjects were interviewed individually using a questionnaire and frequency X2-test. Results are as follows. 1. The most frequently used type of appellations in hospitals was '-ssi ; -sir' used by 88.1% of the nurses and 83.9% of the doctors. About 3 quaters of the medical staff used '-ssi' while none used job position. 2. 93.2% of the patients were satisfied with the appellations used by nurses and 93.0% of the patients were satisfied with the appellations used by the doctors 43.7% didn't think appellations were important and 44.3% thought it natural to use the appellation. The most satisfactory form of appellation used by nurses was '-ssi' to 93.3% of patients. All were satisfied with '-nim ; -sir', '-teacher' and there was no statistically significance. On the other hand, the level of satisfaction and the appellation used by doctors showed a relationship(X2=19.72, p=.000). Every patient was satisfied with '-nim' and '-teacher' but 19.9% were dissatisfied with the others of appellations. 3. Most patients preferred to be called '-ssi' by nurses(77.3%) and doctors(78.7%) respectively. The dominant reason being accuracy(45.8%), naturalness(33.9%) for nurses and 43.8% and 45.4% respectively for doctors. 4. The relationship between the type of appellations requested of nurses and general characteristics showed that age(X2=83.91% p=.000), level of education(X2=33.35 p=.000), and occupation(X2=38.22 p=.033) were related to the type of appellation. The type of appellation requested of doctors was related to the age(X2=72.56 p=.000), level of education(X2=30.01 p=.000), and occupation(X2=42.90 p=.010). Generally, '-ssi' was requested of doctors and nurses, but lower age group or higher age group(over 61), those in elementary schools or elementary school graduates and students preferred being called by their first names or grandfather, grandmother. From the results above, we can see that the most general type of appellation used for patients by the medical staff is '-ssi' and most patients were satisfied with the appellation but, the reason being that such appellations were accepted without concern. This shows that most are not adequately satisfied with the appellation. Only a small number of people use '-nim' and '-teacher' but is the preferred and frequently used types of appellation. Therefore, a continuous research of appellations used for patients with patients using '-nim' and an investigation with nurses' opinions of appellations for patients as the subject are required.