It has been pointed out that there is a lack of a child health education counseling system and a system to revitalize pediatric treatment for preventive health management of children and adolescents.
According to the recent model of operating a pilot project for children's health by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Institute, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Korean children and adolescents has risen from 1.7% to 2.2%, continuing to increase. "Without proper intervention in the prevention and management of children's syndrome, it will increase rapidly in the future," the research team said. "Some countries operate various programs at primary medical institutions to prevent and manage metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents."
However, Korea lacks such a system and does not have local infrastructure. In fact, based on the 2020 health insurance claim data of the Korea Appraisal Board, the number of actual patients and the number of days of visiting the hospital decreased significantly to about 38% compared to the previous year and 47%.
In addition, the number of medical institutions that have closed their businesses has increased by 14.1% annually over the past five years, especially Jeollabuk-do (47.0%), Gwangju Metropolitan City (41.4%), and Jeollanam-do (31.6%).
The areas where the opening of pediatric and adolescent medical institutions decreased the most were Daejeon Metropolitan City (–24.%) and Gyeongsangnam-do and Sejong Special Self-Governing City (–15.9%).
In addition, it was found that more than 49% of the department specialists work in Gyeonggi-do Province and Seoul City, so the regional deviation is serious.
Nevertheless, the number of children diagnosed with metabolic disorders such as diabetes and high blood pressure among children who have visited the department of small intestine over the past five years has increased by about 5.7% annually, raising the need to improve overall primary medical quality.
Accordingly, the research team proposed the operation of a pilot project dedicated to child health.
The research team explained, "The main service of the pilot project is to explain customized disease-related information and health management methods when doctors in charge of pediatrics believe that professional educational counseling is needed for the participating children, and to provide treatment decisions and disease progress monitoring and management services."
According to expert advice, the service items provided by the pilot project are 40 areas such as physical development, chronic disease management, and cognitive improvement, such as overall growth, psychological counseling, and obesity management. Regardless of the age of the target child, it was recommended that the time required for customized educational counseling be at least 20 minutes for in-depth educational counseling and at least 15 minutes for additional educational counseling.
The research team explained, "The pilot project aims to improve the health level of children by life cycle by providing services such as customized childcare counseling, disease prevention, chronic disease management intervention, and mental health care beyond disease-oriented treatment." He added, "In the future, a follow-up management system such as dedicated doctors participating in the pilot project, child history management, service provision fidelity, and quality evaluation is essential to establish a computer system."
Writer: Yeyoung Jeon
(Picture from Unsplash)
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