An Estimation of Supply and Demand for Primary Healthcare Nursing Workforce in the North Korean Region after Korean Reunification

Jinhyun Kim; Yoomi Jung; Heeseung Choi; Sun-Mi Chae; Chae Weon Chung; Nary Chung; Meihua Piao

doi:10.11111/jkana.2019.25.4.353

Journal List > J Korean Acad Nurs Adm > v.25(4) > 1135001

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Kim, Jung, Choi, Chae, Chung, Chung, and Piao: An Estimation of Supply and Demand for Primary Healthcare Nursing Workforce in the North Korean Region after Korean Reunification

Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration 2019; 25(4): 353-361.

Published online: 30 September 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.11111/jkana.2019.25.4.353

An Estimation of Supply and Demand for Primary Healthcare Nursing Workforce in the North Korean Region after Korean Reunification

Jinhyun Kim¹

, Yoomi Jung², Heeseung Choi¹, Sun-Mi Chae¹, Chae Weon Chung¹, Nary Chung³, Meihua Piao³

¹College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Korea.

²Korea Armed Forces Nursing School, Korea.

³Graduate School of Nursing, Seoul National University, Korea.

Corresponding author: Jung, Yoomi. Korea Armed Forces Nursing School, 90 Jaun-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34059, Korea. Tel: +82-42-878-4530, Fax: +82-42-861-8132, ymjungbest@kafna.ac.kr

Received 11 April 2019 Revised 18 May 2019 Accepted 28 May 2019

Korean Academy of Nursing Administration

(open-access):

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

This study was done to estimate supply and demand for nursing workforce to provide community-based primary healthcare in the North Korean region to cost-efficiently narrow the health gap between the two Koreas in case of a Korean reunification.

Methods

To understand the nursing education system and current state of nursing workforce in North Korea, the authors interviewed six North Korean defectors who had worked as nurses in North Korea. Based on the interview results and literature review, the supply and demand for the primary healthcare nursing workforce that would be needed after Korean reunification were estimated

Results

Currently, a total of 2,100 to 2,700 North Korean nurses were estimated to have graduated from nursing schools with a 2 year curriculum or completed 6-month military nurse training courses every year. The projected number of nurses in demand to provide primary health care ranged from 84,160 to 105,200 and the shortage would be between 31,586 and 52,626.

Conclusion

An active utilization of the North Korean nursing workforce to improve the health of North Koreans after reunification will be the best way to reduce the reunification cost which will be inflicted mainly on South Korea.

Keywords: Democratic people's Republic of Korea, Korean reunification, Nursing workforce, Primary healthcare, Supply and demand

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General Characteristics of Interviewed North Korean Defectors (N=6)

Table 2

Reorganized Nursing Education System in North Korea based on Interviews with North Korean Defectors

Table 3

An Estimation of Current Nurse Supply in North Korea

Table 4

An Estimated Demand and Supply of Primary Healthcare Nurse in North Korea after Reunification (Population: 25,248K)

K=1,000; PHN=Primary healthcare nurse; RU=Residential unit (Rinminban). One residential unit is comprised of 20~30 households. One household has been assumed to have 4 family members for the estimation.

Notes

Funding for this article was provided by the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies (IPUS) at Seoul National University under the project “Laying the Groundwork for Unification”.

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ORCID iDs: Jinhyun Kim
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7141-1606
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