Female College Students' Perception of Work Scope of Dental Hygienist and Boundaries of Medical Personnel according to the Major

The purpose of the study is to investigate the women's college students' perceptions on work scope of dental hygienists and the inclusion of dental hygienists in the category of medical personnel. A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 180 Suwon women's college students from August 26, to September 11, 2019. The questionnaire consisted of oral health condition of the subjects, perception of both legal and illegal work scope of dental hygienist, the degree of recognition of medical personnel occupations by subject, and the reason why they thought dental hygienists are medical personnel. The collected data were analyzed based on frequency, percentage, and descriptive statistics using IBM SPSS VER 22.0. It showed significantly different perception of work scope of dental hygienists according to the major. Percent of 70 of the subjects perceived dental hygienist as a medical personnel, the opinions on the necessity were as follows: The Ministry of Health and Welfare issues a license through the national examination role and dental hygienists assist the care of dentist. Therefore, clinical dental hygienists should be promoted to medical personnel through the amendment of the medical law so that the duties practiced by the dental hygienist can be matched with the legal practice.

연구의 목적은 학부별 눈높이에서 치과위생사의 의료인화에 대한 의견을 수집하여 정책 반영에 기초자료로 제시하고자 한다. 이를 위해 비보건계열인 유아교육과, 미용예술과, 보건계열의 치위생과 전공자 중 2학년 여대생 180명을 대상으로 설문조사를 시행한 후 빈도분석과 교차분석을 통한 카이제곱 검정을 실시하였다. 전공별로 치과위생사의 법적 업무와 법적 외 업무에 대한 인식정도는 통계적으로 유의적인 차이가 있었고, 유아교육과 전공자들은 96.7%, 미용예술과 전공자들은 73.3%, 치위생과 전공자들은 85.0%가 치과위생사를 의료인이라고 생각하고 있었다. 그 이유로는 유아교육과 치위생과 전공자들의 경우는 1순위로 국가시험을 통해 보건복지부 장관이 면허증을 교부하기 때문에 각각 32.8%, 41.2%로 가장 높았으나, 미용예술 전공의 전공자들은 치과의사의 지도하에 시행하는 진료의 보조가 31.8%로 가장 높게 나타나 학과별로 통계적으로 유의한 차이가 있었다.