Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
Korean J Intern Med. 2019 May;34(3):660-668. doi: 10.3904/kjim.2016.417. Epub 2017 Dec 15.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Rheumatology in Korea has rapidly advanced in the 24 years since the subspecialty board certification program was established in 1992. The objective of this investigation was to analyze the distribution of rheumatology practices in Korea in order to better understand the rheumatology workforce.
Using a membership list from the Korean College of Rheumatology (KCR), we obtained information on practicing rheumatologists. We mapped the ratio of rheumatologists to the general population and to patients with rheumatologic disease using data from Statistics Korea and the 2015 Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA).
In the 16 administrative districts of Korea in 2015, there were 311 practicing rheumatologists on the list of KCR members. There were 218 members practicing in metropolitan areas and 93 members in the provinces. The mean number of rheumatologists per 100,000 people was 0.60, with 0.33/100,000 in the provinces, but 0.92/100,000 in metropolitan areas, a 2.7-fold difference. The number of rheumatologists per 100,000 patients with chronic rheumatic disease was 17.21 in metropolitan areas but 6.57 in the provinces, according to 2015 HIRA data. This geographic maldistribution emerged as a problem; indeed, the regional disparity in the distribution of Korean rheumatologists was striking when compared to the published medical professional distribution in 2014.
Because of the uneven distribution of rheumatologists, it is likely that some patients with chronic rheumatic conditions have limited access to rheumatology care. Thus, a policy-based approach is needed to alleviate this disparity.
背景/目的：自 1992 年设立专科委员会认证项目以来，韩国风湿病学在 24 年内迅速发展。本研究旨在分析韩国风湿病实践的分布情况，以更好地了解风湿病工作队伍。
利用韩国风湿病学会（KCR）的会员名单，获取执业风湿病医生的信息。我们利用韩国统计局和 2015 年健康保险审查与评估服务（HIRA）的数据，将风湿病医生的数量与总人口和风湿病患者进行了比较。
在韩国的 16 个行政区域中，2015 年 KCR 成员名单上有 311 名执业风湿病医生。大都市地区有 218 名成员，省份有 93 名。每 10 万人中有 0.60 名风湿病医生，其中省份为 0.33/100000，大都市地区为 0.92/100000，相差 2.7 倍。根据 2015 年 HIRA 数据，大都市地区每 100000 名慢性风湿性疾病患者中有 17.21 名风湿病医生，而省份只有 6.57 名。这种地理分布不均成为一个问题；实际上，与 2014 年公布的医疗专业分布情况相比，韩国风湿病医生分布的地区差异非常显著。
由于风湿病医生分布不均，一些患有慢性风湿性疾病的患者可能无法获得风湿病治疗。因此，需要采取基于政策的方法来缓解这种差异。
