| Current status of neonatal intensive care units in Korea |
|
Son-Moon Shin |
|
Department of Pediatrics, Cheil General Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center, Kwandong University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea |
| 한국에서 신생아 중환자실의 현황 |
|
신손문 |
|
관동대학교 의과대학 제일병원 소아청소년과 |
Correspondence:
Son-Moon Shin, Email: smshinmd@hanmail.net
|
|
|
|
|
| Abstract |
|
Neonatal intensive care in Korea has improved remarkably since the 1990s, but there is still a shortage of facilities and equipment in NICUs. Only 71.1% of the beds needed for neonatal intensive care are available. Mechanical ventilators are not appropriately distributed to the NICUs that are equipped to handle neonatal intensive care. The number of doctors is far too small, making the number of patients per doctor very high. Nurses, too, need to take care of 7.7 patients per nurse, making it very difficult to provide adequate intensive care. All this is caused by insufficient investment by the hospitals, which, in turn, is caused by inadequate reimbursement from health insurance. Therefore, a government-sponsored effort is necessary to bring the level of neonatal intensive care up to par. |
| Key Words:
Neonatal intensive care, Newborn, NICU |
|
PDF Links
Download Citation
