A bicycle, a helmet and a pair of low-heeled shoes.
This is the last trace of the late Professor Ju Seok-jung, who was hit by a dump truck while riding his bicycle at an intersection in front of the Family Town Apartment at Asan Medical Center in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the 16th. As a cardiothoracic surgeon at a tertiary general hospital, it was an item that increased ‘mobility’ for him, who had been pressed for time. It was because of ‘mobility’ that a shelter was prepared 10 minutes away from the hospital so that a patient who could come and go from life to death in one minute and one second could run out at any time through the emergency room.
What was it that caused the deceased to be so chased by time? Jang Hyo-jun (44), a professor of thoracic surgery at Hanyang University Hospital, also lives a 15-minute walk or a 5-minute drive from Hanyang University Hospital. For half of the month, he waits for an ’emergency call’ (called by the emergency medicine department) 24 hours a day. Professor Jang’s complaint is that “the drastic decrease in the number of thoracic surgeons and majors is making current thoracic surgery professors at tertiary general hospitals run out of time.”
In fact, it turned out that the shortage of thoracic surgeons is at a serious level. According to the health and medical personnel survey, the number of “current” specialists working at medical institutions in 2020 was 1038 in thoracic and cardiothoracic surgery, which was only half of the popular departments of dermatology (2092) and plastic surgery (1945).
Nevertheless, the number of thoracic surgeons produced annually is less than half compared to 1993 (57), with 21 in 2020, 20 in 2021, and 24 in 2022. Next year, more specialists (32) are retiring than newly produced (21), so the number of thoracic surgeons is expected to ‘naturally decrease’. As the population ages, the demand for surgeries such as lung cancer, heart disease, and aortic dissection is increasing, but the number of doctors who perform them is decreasing.
According to the Korean Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery, 30 specialists are expected to retire this year, but only 32 are newly produced. In particular, the shortage of doctors is expected to become serious after 2025, when specialists produced in 1993 will retire. There are 56 specialists expected to retire in 2027, and even assuming that none of the residents who entered this year quit, 16 specialists will be reduced. In 2028 and 2029, 53 and 59 people are expected to retire, respectively.
Specialists open in other departments, resident doctors are leaving their majorsIn this situation, even the remaining thoracic surgeons are turning their backs on thoracic surgery and the number of ‘departure majors’ who are trying to switch to other departments is rapidly increasing.
On the 2nd of last month, as a result of the analysis and announcement of the data submitted by the Democratic Party of Korea (Health and Welfare Committee), 304 thoracic surgery specialists opened in 2022 with different departments from their majors. This is a 9% increase from 2018 (279 people). Representative Shin Hyun-young analyzed, “One of the reasons for the collapse of essential medical care is that the phenomenon of the increasing phenomenon of essential medical doctors who need to operate in hospitals are unable to keep on site and perform simple medical treatment (at the clinic level).”
As a pre-step to becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon, more and more people are changing departments among ‘thoracic surgeons’ who are called ‘thoracic surgeons’. As a result of examining the data on the dropout rate of majors by specialty submitted by Congressman Shin from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the dropout rate of cardiothoracic surgeons increased from 6.3% in 2018 to 24.1% in 2022, an increase of 17.8 percentage points in four years. In the past year alone, one out of four thoracic surgery majors (24.1%) gave up completing their specialty. This year, the number of cardiothoracic surgeons slightly increased to 40, but three have reportedly given up.
On the other hand, among ‘popular departments’ such as dermatology and plastic surgery, only 0% and 2.8% switched to other majors last year, respectively. Rep. Shin said, “In a situation where it is difficult to secure a major due to the phenomenon of avoidance of essential medical subjects, the problem of manpower shortage is becoming serious as more and more people give up midway.”
As the number of patients increases and the number of doctors who perform surgery decreases, the number of patients treated per doctor is increasing exponentially. As a result, songs due to ‘burnout’, which used up all the energy, flowed out from all over the place.
According to the Korean Society of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, thoracic surgeons currently work an average of 12.7 hours per day (63.5 hours per week) and are on duty for an average of 5.1 days without breaks.
In a fact-finding survey conducted by the society on members (thoracic surgeons) in 2019, 51.7% of respondents answered that they had “suffered burnout.” Due to the nature of work that deals with human life, burnout of doctors inevitably affects treatment performance메이저놀이터. In fact, 48.6% of those who said they had burnout in this survey said that “burnout caused harm to patients.” In addition, 93.9% of respondents said “there is a possibility of causing harm to patients in the future.”
Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Association proposes “to create a special law for thoracic surgery”To publicize the seriousness of the situation, the Korean Society of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery held a press conference last year and suggested “enactment of the ‘Special Act on Thoracic Surgery (tentative name)’ to prevent a medical vacuum.” According to the society, several meetings were held with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, and Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. However, no progress has been made regarding the enactment of the special law.
The vacant positions of cardiothoracic surgeons in most tertiary general hospitals in Korea are secretly replaced by nurses called ‘PAs (Physical Assistants)’. A tertiary general hospital in Seoul has five thoracic surgery professors (specialists), but only two. Moreover, even though the quota for thoracic surgery is 4-6, no applicants have been accepted since 5 years ago. 0 residents for 5 years. A professor of thoracic surgery hinted, “In thoracic surgery, a resident
has to do these tasks, such as opening the lungs, holding the open lungs, and threading them. In fact, according to the Korean Society of Cardiothoracic and Thoracic Surgery last year, the retention rate of residents was 53.1% based on the training hospitals of thoracic surgeons nationwide. ·Samsung Seoul Hospital, Seoul Asan Medical Center, Chonnam National University Hospital, Pusan National University Hospital).
Professor Jang Hyo-joon predicted, “Even if the fee is improved and the salary is raised more, the application rate of MZ generation majors will gradually decrease due to the fact that work-life balance cannot be maintained .” According to Professor Jang, with the introduction of the thoracic surgery penalty system in 2009 , the monthly income has improved to the extent that internal medicine specialists receive 8 million won per month, while thoracic surgeons receive 4 to 8 million won more depending on the number of surgeries . However, it is explained that for the MZ
generation , who value work-life balance more than money, cardiothoracic surgery, which requires giving up one’s life, is inevitable. Another professor of thoracic surgery, Mr. B, said, “A while ago, a college junior said he wanted to apply for a thoracic surgery major, but I stopped him. I know very well that it is very difficult not to keep a work-life balance.” If it were, I wouldn’t choose thoracic surgery.”
According to Newsis and the medical community on the 20th, lung cancer and heart surgery have increased by 33.8% and 70%, respectively, over the past 10 years, and the number of patients is expected to increase further due to the aging population. However, thoracic surgeons will be in short supply as 37% of them retire within the next 10 years and 60% within 15 years. Considering this, the appropriate number of people should be about 15 to 20 more people a year than now. Chung Eui-seok (Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital), head of the Planning and Public Relations Committee, said, “The operation cost is the same as a 5-hour operation for the same disease and a 20-hour operation, and the longer the operation takes, the longer the occupancy of the operating room increases, and the hospital suffers losses. Rescue,” he said, “training fees should be paid only for the number of majors determined by the government, and the number of assistants who work hand-to-hand with majors should be increased.”