Supply and demand of nursing manpower for small and medium hospitals in rural area: nursing shortage versus wage disparity

중소병원의 간호인력 수급 논쟁: 인력난 vs 임금난

Recently, small and medium-sized hospitals which are located in rural areas have many difficulties in securing high quality nurses. That is because working environments for nurses in small and medium-sized hospitals in rural areas are poor compared with those of big hospitals in urban. As a result, the migration of nurses from small and medium-sized hospitals in rural areas to big hospitals in urban is continuously happening. In general, big hospitals provide nurses with high level of salary and fringe benefits. To prevent the migration of nurses, chief executive officers of small & medium hospitals in rural areas have been interested in improving nurses' working conditions including wages. Also, they have raised nurses' salary and improved working conditions. But, basically these individualized efforts have some limit. In connection with this, medical interest groups have produced various voices in terms of interpretation and solutions for these issues. However, from the future perspectives, it seems evident that two approaches for both manpower supply and demand plans of nurses are necessary. They should contain not only accurate estimation of the supply-demand of nursing manpower but also the improvement of working conditions and wages of nurses. Estimation of nursing manpower supply-demand depends on the standards and criteria being used. Supply and demand may be met or not in accordance with the points emphasized on the decision. In the articles, issues regarding nursing manpower, levels of salary, other working conditions and social support system for child care are discussed. According to Joe's report (2005), most health institutions did not meet the guidelines of nurse staffing in Medical Law. The wages of nurse vary on every hospital and there is a big difference in wages' range. The average starting salary for a nurse is 22 million won a year. In case of tertiary hospitals, it reaches up to 30 million won a year. Nurse as a profession should have a strong responsibility and should take care of the patients for 24 hours with three working shifts. Also, most of them are female who have the burden of child rearing. Therefore, it is suggested to increase the salary, to provide comfortable working conditions, and to have social support system for nurses with household affairs.