Economic Effects of Qualifications( Ⅱ )
-With a Focus on the National Health and Medical Licenses Evaluation System-
Sang-Ho Kim, Dong-Im Lee, Sang-Don Lee
This study measures the effects of national licenses in the health and medical fields.
The measurement of the economic effect of high public licenses(national qualifications), and analysis of the evaluation system for various types of licenses, are carried out herein. In addition, based on the evaluation of existing national qualifications, the present study also seeks to identify problems linked to licenses in the health and medical fields and to present potential improvements.
The main goals of this study are as follows.
- Establish theories to measure the economic effects of the various license-related national qualifications.
- Revise or complement the evaluation system developed in the 1st year in order to present a simpler and more effective evaluation system.
- Present plans for verifying the evaluation(framework), and managing the quality of examples through pilot application of licenses and license-type qualification criteria. In short, present guidelines for improving national licenses and perform a comparison of the characteristics and usage of licenses in the health and medical sectors of Korea and Japan.
The economic effects(II) of qualifications was analyzed in the present study, with the main focus being on work licenses(nurse, nutritionists, dental hygienists, physical therapists, radiation therapists, and practical nurse) rather than those related to occupational licenses (doctors, dentists, etc.)
This is because of the inherent differences between occupational licenses, which have large legal job authority, and high a ratio of self-employment, and work licenses, which have low authority and a high ratio of employment as low-wage employers.
In addition, the lack of studies conducted on work licenses when compared to that carried out on individual occupational licenses makes it hard to deduce improvement policies. This is due to the complex conflicts of interests in the work areas for which occupational licenses are granted. Given the limitations of time and budget, the present study focuses solely on those licenses that can be obtained through cooperation among interested parties.
The results of the evaluation of the economic effects of health and medical licenses are presented in <Table 2>.
First, license holders ability to use their certificates/licenses needs to be increased.
Second, with the notable exception of core job tasks, the monopolization of tasks associated with particular jobs needs to be eased.
Third, it is necessary to enhance the linkages between education and qualifications(licenses).
Fourth, more attention should be paid to on-site needs in the qualification test process.
Fifth, the supply and demand for personnel needs to be increased.
Sixth, the plan for international hiring-out of license holders needs to be improved.
Seventh, licenses should be segmented and bestowed based on field-specific specialization.
Eighth, efforts are required to promote the government's policy vis-a-vis health/medical services.
Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Scores Nurse Practical
Nurse Nutritionist Physical Therapist
Dental Hygienist
Radiation Therapists
Employment Effect 4.39 4.11 3.86 4.25 3.94 4.19
Wage Effect 2.45 2.20 2.48 2.27 2.15 2.28
Other Effect 4.12 3.70 3.67 3.94 3.76 3.94
Labor Demand and Supply 3.37 3.47 3.36 3.36 3.41 3.63
Productivity 4.13 3.94 3.72 3.93 3.30 3.85
Service Accessibility 3.64 3.40 3.15 3.27 3.07 3.27
Service Satisfaction 3.40 3.26 3.21 3.42 3.46 3.44
Price Appropriateness 2.49 2.43 2.79 2.45 2.83 2.85
License Usability Rate 5.30 - 2.29 6.29 5.69 6.54
Total 33.29 26.51 28.53 33.18 31.61 33.99
<Table 1> Evaluation Criteria for Health & Medical Licenses
