Abstract
Objectives: To undertake manpower-related improvements based on a comparison between specialists in the traditional Korean medicine hospitals(TKMH) and their counterparts in Western medicine Methods: A survey of the TKMH based on questionnaire sheets dispatched to them by mail(57 of 142 responded) in the June December, 2008 period, and on almanac statistics provided by the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs of Korean Government. Results: Overall, the workforce engaged in the traditional Korean medicine hospitals comprises traditional Korean medical doctors(28%), nurses(23%), administrative staffs(19%), assistant nurses(9%), medical record keepers(2%), nutritionists(2%), herbal pharmacists(1%), and others(16%). Each hospital has 16.5 traditional Korean medical doctors on average, which can be broken down into 6.2 specialists, 1.3 generalists, and 9.3 residents/interns. Only 10.7% of whole of traditional Korean medical doctors work in the hospitals, compared to 54.5% of Western medicine doctors. The ratio of traditional Korean medical doctors to the entirety of employees in the TKMH is 2.5 times higher than their Western medicine counterparts, while the ratio of medical technicians to the entire employees in the TKMH is 20 times lower than in the Western medicine counterparts. Conclusions: To provide more qualified medical service in the TKMH, they will be required to increase the proportion of non medical doctor employees, like Western medicine counterparts.
