The Change of the Distribution of General Practitioners at Taiwan 1996~1998

• Main Authors: Tsung-Hsi Wang, 王宗曦
• Other Authors: Ray-E Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 1999
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/20738929995877558402

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 醫療機構管理研究所 === 87 === Abstract General practitioners are the foundation of health care system because the amount and distribution affected well operation of health care system. Previous studies mainly focused on the aggregate quantity rather than on the distribution and change of general practitioner manpower. In order to differentiate itself from previous works conducted in this country, this study intends to investigate the change of general practitioner manpower in geographical distribution and its market mechanism. Deviation variables according to the deviation index of the carrying capacity for physicians, urban development variables and health care resources-related variables are employed to examine the number of in-migration or out-migration general practitioners in Taiwan’s 359 towns from 1996 to 1998. While the “highly attractive area” is the only deviation variable significantly correlated with the number of in-migration, none of deviation variables is significantly correlated with the number of out-migration. Nevertheless, it is found that the deviation variables are highly correlated with the changes both in the number of physicians per one hundred thousand populations and the number of general practitioners per ten thousand populations. In addition, the deviation variables are significantly correlated with the net growth rate of general practitioners in towns as well. These results support that the relative deviation index of physician carrying capacity contributes the explanation of changes in the numbers of physicians and general practitioners. In terms of the urban development variables, we found that the population density is significantly correlated with the number of in-migration and out-migration. In terms of the health care resources-related variables, the number of hospitals in a township and the number of main teaching hospitals in a sub-medical area have the same effect on, and significantly correlated with, the number of in-migration and out-migration while the number of general practitioners per ten thousand populations in a township is negatively correlated with the number of in-migration, it is positively correlated with the number of out-migration. Based on above findings, this study concludes that market mechanism affected the migration of general practitioners in a township level to a certain degree.