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KMID : 0353019710080020375
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Korean Journal of Public Health
1971 Volume.8 No. 2 p.375 ~ p.413
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Health Manpower Study in Korea
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許程/Huh,Jong
姜南姬/韓達鮮/文玉綸/Kang,Nam Hi/Han,Dal Sun/Moon,Ok Yun
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Abstract
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In order to obtain basic data required for the formulation of the health and medical care plan of Korea, various publications concerning the supply and demand of medical manpower were studied, and surveys were conducted on 1,334 nurses employed by hospitals and public health centers in selected areas. As the results through the analysis of collected data, the following conclusion has been reached:
1) As for the distribution of nurses by age group, the group of 20 to 24 years constituted the greatest proportion or 49.3per cent, the group of 25 to 29 years the second greatest proportion or 22.3per cent, the group of 30 to 34 years the third greatest proportion or 11.9per cent, and the group of 50 years or more 1.4per cent.
2) As for the number of family members, five-member families constituted the greatest proportion or 18.1per cent, six-member familiest the second greatest proportion or 15.0per cent, seven-member families the third greatest proportion or 14.2per cent, and familes with five or more members occupied 71.7per cent of the total number of families surveyed.
3) As for the marital status of the surveyed nurses, unmarried nurses constituted the greatest proportion or 64.6per cent, married nurses 32.2per cent, widowed nurses 0.9per cent, and divorced nurses 0.5per cent.
4) As for the occupations of their spouses, government officials and other office workers constituted the greatest proportion of 47.0per cent, those engaged in commercial business the second greatest proportion or 20.5per cent, professionals 17.2per cent, and unemployed spouses 3.3per cent.
5) The nurse who graduated from three-year-course nursing colleges constituted the greatest proportion or 49.3per cent, graduates of nursing high schools the second greatest proportion or 23.1per cent, and graduates of four-year-course nursing colleges or nursing departments of colleges the third greatest proportion or 22.9per cent.
6) 24.4per cent of the surveyed nurses had midwife licenses, and 60.7per cent did not have licenses. The proportions of nurses who had midwife licenses varied extensively among different age groups.
7) As for the period of continuous service at current places of employment, nurses who had been employed for 12 to 18 months constituted the greatest proportion or 19.9per cent, those employed for three to six months the second greatest proportion or 16.0per cent, those employed for less than three months the third greatest proportion ro 15.7per cent, and those employed for five years or more 10.4per cent.
8) The total period of professionally active life span of incumbent nurses was 130.3 months for the age group of 35 to 39 years, 113.7 months for the age group of 30 to 34 years, and 108.4 months for the age group of 40 to 44 yeras. If non-respondents(most of whom are considered to have no previous employment) are taken into account, their professional life was 97.8 months for the age group of 35 to 39 years 89.3 months for the age group of 40 to 44 years, and 79.9 months for the age group of 45 to 49 yeras. Their occupational life span would have been far shorter if retired nurses were also taken into account. By kind of nursing educatin, the professional life span of nursing high school graduates was 151.0 months (115.5 months if non-respondents are taken into account), that of three-year-course nursing college graduates 78.4 months (38.9 months if non-respondents are taken into account), and that of four-year-course nursing college graduates 99.0 months (49.8 months if non-respondents are taken into accout).
9) The greatest proportion or 47.1per cent of the surveyed nurses wished to continuously work as nurse for one or two more years, 17.1per cent wished to work for three or four more years, and 10.0per cent wished to work for life.
10) Seventy three per cent of the surveyed nurses have retired from their profession once, 22.5per cent twice, and 2.2per cent three or more times.
11) The age group of 25 to 29 years constituted 41.6per cent or the greatest proportion of those who have once retired form their occupation, and the age group of 20 to 24 years 39.3per cent or the second greatest proportion. As for reasons for their retirement, marriage accounted for the greatest proportion or 50.0per cent, the conduct of household affairs for the second greatest proportion or 23.6per cent, and their own change of profession(or place of employment) and that of their husbands respectively for 4.5per cent.
12) The age group of 30 to 40 years constituted 8.4per cent or the greatest proportion of those who have retired form their occupation twice, and the age group of 25 to 29 years 7.3per cent or the second greatest proportion. As for reasons for their retirement, the conduct of household affairs constituted the greatest proportion or 10.7per cent, the transfer of occupation (or place of employment) of their husbands the second greatest proportion or 3.9per cent, and marriage the third greatest proportio or 2.8per cent.
13) The greatest proportio or 48.7per cent of the surveyed nurses wished to work at hospital in the future, the second greatest proportio or 13.3per cent wished to work as school nurse, and the third greatest proportion or 9.0per cent wished to work at health center. The most desired places of work varied by age group.
14) Of the surveyed nurses 46.8per cent did not want to continously work as nurse after they got married, while only 17.5per cent wished to continuously work.
15) The monthly income of the greatest proportion or 24.3per cent was 15,000 to 20,000, that of the second greatest proportion or 24.1per cent 25,000 to 30,000, and the third greatest proportio or 15.1per cent 20,000 and 25,000.
On the basis of the above conclusion, the following recommendation is made:
(1) Most of the nurses wish to cease working as nurse upon getting married. Unless special measures are worked out to extend their short prefessional life span, their professional service is considered to be far below the amount of investment in their training, and the supply of nurses seriously short of demand in the future.
(2) The salaries ofnurses are obviously extremely small in consideration of their work volume and occupational function and in comparion with employees in other professions of the comparable level. It is considered urgent to improve their treatment.
16) The estimated data concerning the supply and demand of physicians is the fundamental factor in estimating the supply and demand of medical manpower as a whole. The demand for physicians in 1986 was estimated at 40,028, and the supply of physicians at 32,465 or 81.1per cent of the demand, thereby showing a shortage of 7,563 physicians.
17) The demand for dentists was estimated at 8,053 or one fifth of that for physicians, and their supply at 6,102, thereby showing a shortage of 1,951 dentists.
18) On the premise that two nurses would be needed per physician, the demand for nurses was estimated at 80,592 while their supply was estimated at 62,445, thereby showing a shortage of 18,147 nurses.
19) On the premise that one pharmacist would be needed for every two physicians, the demand for pharmacists was estimated at 26,793, while their supply was estimated at 27,809 thereby showing and anticipated exessive supply. This points to the necessity of readjusting the authorized enrollment and departments of colleges.
20) The demand for medical assistants was estimated at a total of 30,410, and their supply at 20,607 or 67.8per cent of the demand, thereby showing a shortage of 9,803 medical assistants.
a. The demand for X-ray technicians was estmated at 2,680, and their supply at 1,461 or 54.5per cent of the demand, thereby showing a shortage of 1,219 technicians.
b. The demand for clinical pathologists and sanitary experimenters was estimated at a total of 3,090 and their supply at a total of 2,890 or 93.6per cent of their demand, thereby showing a total shortage of 200 clinical pathologists and sanitary experimenters.
c. The demand for dental craftsmen was estimated at 1,051 and their supply at 1,160 or 110.5per cent of their demand, thereby showing an excessive supply.
d. The demand for dental hygienists was estimated at 670, but no dental hygienist is expected to be supplied at all.
e. The demand for nursing aids was estimated at 20,800 and their supply at 13,484 or 64.8per cent of their demand, thereby showing a shortage of 7,315 nursing aids.
f. The demand for sanitarians was estimated at 1,400 and their supply at 1,270 or 90.7per cent of their demand, thereby showing a shortage of 7,315 sanitarians.
g. The demand for physiotherapists and work therapists was estimated at a total of 720, and their supply at a total of 340 ro 47.2per cent of their total demand.
In short, the supply of physicians, dentists, nurses and medical assistants is expected to be short of their respective estimated demand, while the supply of pharmacists is expected to surpass their demand.
The imbalance between supply and demand reflects defects involved in the current system and its related policy. Therefore, the following measures are recommended to be worked out and implemented in order to eradicate the imbalance:
1) Step-by-step increase in the supply of professional:
A step-by-step increase is desirable under a reasonable medical manpower plan. However, this will take a long period of time.
2) Replacement with assistants:
It is believed that the productivity of professional personnel should be elevated through an extensive delegatio of non-specialized low-level technical work to assistants. In order to cover the above-mentioned anticipated shortage of medical assistants, therefore, it is recommended that authorities take bold systemic actions.
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