• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2024

Background: This study aimed to assess the appropriate allocation of emergency medical beds across 17 provinces and presume the economic benefits associated with such allocation. Methods: To estimate the optimal allocation of emergency medical beds by province, data from the Statistics Korea's "cause of death statistics (2014-2021)," regional statistics on "area, population, gender, age," and "population projections" were utilized. The "number of emergency beds by city and district" provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service was also used. In estimating the economic benefits of preventing avoidable emergency deaths due to the expansion of emergency medical facilities, guidelines from the Korea Development Institute and the Korea Transport Institute were referenced to calculate the wage loss costs associated with emergency deaths and estimate the economic benefits. Results: The optimal ratio of emergency medical beds allocation by region was highest in Gyeonggi, Seoul, Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, and Busan, while Daejeon, Jeju, and Sejong showed lower ratios. Additionally, the prevention of avoidable deaths and economic benefits resulting from the increase in emergency medical facilities were highest in Gyeonggi, Seoul, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, and Busan. However, when standardized by population, the prevention of avoidable deaths and economic benefits were analyzed to be highest in Gyeongbuk, Chungnam, Jeonnam, Gyeongnam, and Busan. Conclusion: The results of this study can serve as foundational data for future policy measures aimed at addressing the imbalance in the supply of emergency medical facilities across regions. Considering regional characteristics in the distribution of emergency medical facilities is expected to ultimately increase the efficiency of national finances and yield economic benefits.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.37-54
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• 2009

The purpose of this thesis is to address the imbalance between supply and demand of dental lab technicians and to propose its solutions by analyzing the improvement of employment rate of graduates of dental technology schools in Daegu area and the supply and demand of the technician workforce. Preliminary and full-scale surveys were performed from Aug. 10 to Oct. 10 in 2008 on 150 junior students of dental technology schools who finished their on-the-job-training and 150 dental technicians who were working for dental laboratory in Daegu by self-assessment questionnaire. Followings are the findings of this study. First, regarding the gender of the dental technicians, 32.7% of respondents were female 67.3% were male. Concerning age, respondents younger than 29 years-old occupied the highest percentage(39.3%). With respect to the lab technology school they graduated, DaeguHealthCollege took the largest proportion of 87.3%. With regard to interpersonal relationship at the school, 58.0% of respondents felt their relationship 'smooth'. Second, about the motive of choosing to be a lab technician, the biggest proportion of the respondents(34.7%) replied that 'because it is professional'. Regarding the degree of satisfaction about the profession, 'so-so' was the answer with the biggest percentage(51.3%) followed by 'satisfied'(32.0%) and 'unsatisfied'(16.7%). It showed that respondents were generally satisfied with their major. Third, regarding relevance of on-the-job-training with 'preparation for the employment', highest percentage of both students and lab technicians(50.0%) replied 'so-so'. With respect to 'necessity of practical education', highest percentage of the students and lab technicians replied 'relating didactic education in college to the real world' with 52.7% and 40.7% respectively. With regard to 'the aim of on-the-sport-training', 'practical training of didactic education' was chosen by 54.0% and 47.3% respectively. Fourth, with regard to the 'types of college education advantageous for the employment', both students and lab technicians groups chose 'practical training' with the highest percentage. Concerning 'helpfulness of clinical training on employment', students answered 'so-so' and 'helpful' by 50.0% and 42.7% respectively and dental technicians replied similarly by 50.0% and 46.0% respectively. Fifth, with regard to the influence of financial factors on the supply and demand of dental technician(question #1), 68.0% of respondents agreed that 'salary plays key role in the supply and demand of the work force'. Concerning the question about working condition, respondents requested better working environment. With reference to interpersonal relationship at the laboratory, respondents replied that interpersonal relationship affects the duration of the employment it was found out that there were many conflicts with colleagues or dental office. Sixth, regarding the satisfaction about their profession according to the characteristics of the respondents more respondents were 'satisfied'(10.30 points) with their profession and 'unsatisfied' were 9.47 points and the difference was statistically significant(p<0.05). According to the findings of this study, practical education on campus and on-the-job-training are as important as didactic education at class due to the characteristics of dental technology major. It was found that more practical training is related to higher employment rate. Therefore, efficiency of on-the-job-training by college education should be increased raise employment rate of the graduates and reduce the unemployment. Up-to-date information needs to be promptly delivered and future vision should be presented to the students to raise their satisfaction about the profession. In addition, to reduce dental technician's frequent change of their workplace after facing with the reality of the profession after graduation, related organizations should make an effort to present better future than now.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.87-114
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• 1994

1950년대부터 많은 개발도상국가들은 가족계획을 위주로 하는 인구제어정책을 추진하여 왔다. 특히 가부장제도를 중심으로하는 동아시아 국가들에 있어서는 남아선호관이 출산력 저하나 피임 실천율이 증대에 지대한 유해요인으로 일관해 왔다. Sheps(1963)는 실증적으로 2명의 아들을 갖기 위해서는 약 3.9명 정도의 자녀를 두어야 한다는 연구결과를 제시한바 있다. 이와 같은 남아선호관의 여파에도 불구하고 한국과 홍콩은 1980년대 증반에 이미 1.6명 수준의 저출산율을 이룩하였으며, 1970년대에 인구억제 정책을 시작한 중국도 2명 수준으로 저하되어 가족계획사업의 성공사례로 평가되어 왔다. 그러나 이들 국가들의 출산율은 지난 20-30년이라는 짧은 기간에 너무나 급진적으로 감소된 반면에 남아선호관의 상존으로 인한 성비(여자 100명당 남자수)의 불균형을 초래하게 되였다. 한 예로 한국의 경우 1960년도만 해도 6명 이상의 자녀를 출산하는 과정에서 1-2명의 아들을 둘 수 있는 확률은 매우 높았으나, 최근에는 출산율이 2명 이하로 저하되어 아들을 둘 수 있는 확률은 과거보다 3-4배 어려워졌기 때문에 인위적인 방법으로 아들을 두는 부모의 수가 증가하고 있다. 중국은 1970년대 중반기부터 강력히 추진되어온 소위 "한자녀 갖기 운동"으로 인하여 여아출산인 경우 영아살해 또는 출생의 미신고등 많은 사회적 물의를 야기하였고, 최근에는 초음파검사를통한 선택적 인공임신중절(태아가 여아인 경우)으 경우가 급격히 증가하고 있다. 우리 나라의 성비는 출산율이 급격히 감소된 1980년대 증반기부터 급격히 증가되었다. 즉 인구전체에 대한 성비는 1980년의 103.9명에서 1985년에 110명으로 증가하였고ㅡ 1990년 116.9명으로 증가되었다. 성비는 자녀의 수가 적을수록 높아지는 추세이다. 1991년 조사에서 출산을 종료한 부인의 경우 1자녀의 성비는 무려 206명이나 되고 있다. 이와 같은 결과는 한자녀를 원하는 부인이 아들을 둔 경우 1자녀에서 조산을 결심하기 때문인 것이다. 통계청 자료에 의하면 성비는 무엇보다도 자녀의 출산순위와 밀접하다. 1991년 출생신고자료의 경우 첫아이의 출생시 성비는 106.1명이고, 둘째아이가 112.8명이나, 셋째아이는 184.7명으로 크게 증가하고 넷째 이상의 경우는 212.3명이나 된다. 동일한 출산순위라도 이미 두고 있는 자녀의 성에 따라서 많은 차이를 보인다. 1991년도 3번째 출산의 경우 딸만 2명을 두고 있는 자녀의 성에 아들만 2명 또는 아들과 딸을 각각 1명씩 두고 있는 경우에 비해 높은 성비를 보이고 있다. 자녀를 출산하는데 있어서 처음에는 아들ㅇ르 기다리지만 딸의 수가 증가함에 따라 적극적으로 아들을 낳고자 하는 노력을 지속하게 됨을 알 수 있다. 이는 즉 임신한 자녀의 성이 딸로 판명되면 인공임신중절을 통해 임신을 종결시키고 있음을 의미한다. 최근 한국보건사회연구원에서 수행한 연구결과에 의하면 이미 출생한 자녀의 성구성은 임신결과를 결정하는 가장 중요한 변수로 부각되고 있다. 즉 임신이 인공임신중절로 귀착되는 확률은 부모가 이미 아들을 두고 있는 경우에 일관성 있게 증가되고 있음을 보이고 있다. 따라서 남아선호관은 임신결과를 결정할뿐 아니라 선택절 인공임신중절에 의한 성비의 불균형을 초래하는 주요 변수로써 할거되었다. 특히 피임실천이 보편화되고 선택적 인공임신중절의 이용이 손쉬운 현대사회에 있어서는 남아선호관이 출산력 저하에 저해요인으로서가 아니라, 인위적이던 자연적이던 간에 아들만 두면 단산하는 현행의 출산풍토하에서는 남아선호관이 오히려 출산력저하에 결정적으로 작용하고 있다고 하겠다. 태아의 성 판별을 통한 선택적 인공임신중절의 건수는 1990년 한해에 약 20,000건 정도가 되고, 1986-1990년 사이에 총 80,000건으로 추정된다. 이 수치는 출생한 여아수의 5%에 해당한다. 현재 출생시 성비의 불균형은 연간 총출생수의 10% 미만에 불과한 3번째 이상의 출산에서 발생되고 있기 때문에 인구학적인 측면에서는 큰 문제가 아니다. 그러나 앞으로 출산율의 감소와 더불어 선택적 인공임신중절이 년간 출생수의 90% 이상을 차지하고 있는 둘째, 첫째출산순위로 확산된다면 성비의 불균형은 급진적으로 가속화되어 전통적 결혼관습의 재연등 인간의 생태계를 파괴하는 새로운 차원에서의 사회인구학적인 문제가 야기될 것이다. 결론적으로 성비의 불균형을 초래하는 근본적인 원인은 우리 나라으 전통적인 의식구조인 남아선호관의 상종과 최신의 의료기술에 의한 선택적 인공임신중절에 기인된 것이기 때문에 이를 시정하기 위한 제반 사회제도적 극복정책은 지속적으로 강화되어야 할 것이다.되어야 할 것이다.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2024

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the specialty hospital system by comparing the medical use of inpatients who had artificial joint replacement surgery in specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals. Methods: This study utilized 2021-2022 healthcare benefit claims data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The dependent variable is inpatient medical use which is measured in terms of charges per case and length of stay. The independent variable was whether the hospital was designated as a specialty hospital, and the control variables were patient-level variables (age, gender, insurer type, surgery type, and Charlson comorbidity index) and medical institution-level variables (establishment type, classification, location, number of orthopedic surgeons, and number of nurses). Results: The results of the multiple regression analysis between charges per case and whether a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital showed a statistically significant negative relationship between charges per case and whether a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital. This suggests a significant low in charges per case when a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital compared to a non-specialty hospital, indicating that there is a difference in medical use outcomes between specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals inpatients. Conclusion: The practical implications of this study are as follows. First, the criteria for designating specialty hospitals should be alleviated. In our study, the results show that specialty hospitals have significantly lower per-case costs than non-specialty hospitals. Despite the cost-effectiveness of specialty hospitals, the high barriers to be designated for specialty hospitals have gathered the specialty hospitals in metropolitan and major cities. To address the regional imbalance of specialty hospitals, it is believed that ease the criteria for designating specialty hospitals in non-metropolitan areas, such as introducing "semi-specialty hospitals (tentative name)," will lead to a reduction in health disparities between regions and reduce medical costs. Second, it is necessary to determine the appropriateness of the size of hospitals' medical staff. The study found that the number of orthopedic surgeons and nurses varied in charges per case. Therefore, it is believed that appropriately allocating hospital medical staff can maximize the cost-effectiveness of medical services and ultimately reduce medical costs.