노인요양병원과 신경과 의사의 역할

Abstract

Korea health care system and public welfare system have been changed slowly and developed step by step. It makesefforts to promote the welfare of the people, but does not provide good benefits for geriatric patients. In 2008, it wasincompletely set up the long term care system in Korea. And the Law on Long-Term Care Insurance for Elderly wasofficially announced in Nov. 2011 and the law for dementia, Dementia Management Act, was drafted in Feb. 2012. Though there were many laws, the concept of long-term care hospital and geriatric care facility is still obscure. Inlong-term care hospital, there are big expansion of the number of beds and institutions in Korea. Over a half of thepatients in long-term care hospitals are suffered from mixed neurological diseases. Especially, dementia is the comorbidstate with other chronic geriatric diseases. In view of the aging population, the role of neurologist will continue to grow. So neurologists need more special training for the needed skills and competencies, and the specific care settings programin long-term care hospital. In this review, the history and current state of long-term care hospital, related laws, and therole of neurologist will be discussed.