[Personnel requirements for health examination for 6 month and 9 mont-old children in municipalities in Japan].
Based on the Maternal and Child Health Law, municipalities offer health education, health counseling, health examination, and home visitation service for children and their mothers. In order to determine the personnel staffing requirements for the health examinations of 6 and 9 month-old children conducted independently by municipalities in Japan in 1989, data from the questionnaire survey executed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 1990 was analyzed. Questionnaires were sent to all municipalities and there were 3,198 responses for a response rate of 97.9% Results showed that in 1989, 27.5% of the 3,198 municipalities were able to perform health examinations for 6 month-old children and 24.7% for 9 month-old children. In the case of those cities which had populations over 10,000 but under 20,000, about 30% were able to perform the health examinations for 6 and 9 month-old children independently. In those cities which had health Centers, the health personnel system most adequately supported these health examinations. Due to the lack of health personnel, rural towns and villages with small populations required public health nurses to be assisted by other staff, most often public health nurses from prefectural Health Centers. For example, in those areas with populations less than 3,000, about 42-45% of the total volume of the work required to be performed by public health nurses during the health examinations for 6 and 9 month-old children had to be covered by assistance from prefectural public health nurses.
Hoshi
T
T
Tokyo Metropolitan University.
Nakahara
T
T
Takabayashi
K
K
Gunji
A
A
D002669:Child Welfare; D006280:Health Workforce; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan; D009111:Local Government; D010808:Physical Examination; D011634:Public Health; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires