Key result
Projected Korean cardiologist shortages are linked to a ~50% increase in emergency patients per physician.
Why the study?
The study was conducted to estimate the supply and demand for cardiologists in Korea and provide evidence for healthcare policy to ensure an adequate workforce for cardiovascular disease management.
Observational (n=1,139)
Korea faces a significant projected shortage of cardiologists over the next decade, with the number of emergency patients per cardiologist expected to increase by nearly 50% by 2032.
May strain Korea's emergency cardiac services; leaves open optimal workforce planning strategies.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to estimate the supply and demand for cardiologists in Korea and provide evidence for healthcare policy to ensure a stable and adequate workforce for optimal cardiovascular disease management. METHODS: Past trends of inflow and outflow of cardiologists were used to make crude projections, which were then adjusted based on demands of services to obtain final projections. Inflow of cardiologists was estimated using second-order polynomial regression and demand for cardiology care was estimated using linear regression. RESULTS: There were 1,139 active cardiologists who were under the age of 65 in clinical practice in Korea. The estimated number of cardiologists from 2022 to 2040 showed that the number of cardiologists would peak at 1,344 in 2032 and gradually decrease thereafter. We also estimated an increase of 947,811 cases of heart-related procedures annually from 2023 to 2032. The number of heart-related procedures per cardiologist would increase 1.4 times from 12,964 in 2023 to 17,862 in 2032. The estimated number of emergency patients per cardiologist under 50 years old would almost double from 544 in 2022 to 987 in 2032. CONCLUSIONS: We expect significant shortage of cardiologists in Korea within the next 10 years. The number of emergency patients per cardiologist will increase by nearly 50%, leading to high individual workload for cardiologists. To prevent this imbalance between supply and demand, an organized and collective approach by the specialty of cardiology is imperative to produce a balanced workforce.
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Kim et al. (2023) conducted an observational in Cardiologist workforce shortage (n=1,139). Healthcare workforce projection was evaluated on Projected shortage of cardiologists by 2032. By 2032, Korea will face a shortage of 561 cardiologists to maintain the 2022 level of cardiac care, and the number of emergency patients per cardiologist will increase by nearly 50%.
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