PURPOSE
The plan proposed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2012 did not reflect the position of nurses and focused only on how to increase the number of nurses. There is a need for coming up with a specific and viable alternative plan considering the qualitative aspect of nursing, delegation of nursing tasks, the in-death analysis of the reasons for leaving the nursing profession, and the legal standards based on varying nursing tasks.
METHODS
Drawing on a review of existing literature, this report was written to examine policy directions and the factors that influence the institutional environment that regulates the supply and demand of the nursing workforce in Korea.
RESULTS
Implementing the government's plan for introducing a new type of nurse, the registered practical nurse, which generally requires a two-year associate's degree, must be reconsidered. Also, a concrete plan to make use of unemployed nurses and to close the salary gap between nurses working at hospitals in cities and those working at hospitals in rural areas must be prepared. Furthermore, there is a need for introducing a new rating system aimed at boosting the quality of nursing care in small-and medium-sized hospitals, thereby increasing the number of nursing professionals who provide high quality care.
CONCLUSION
In preparation for expected poor quality of care and looming unemployment crisis due to the increase in the number of nursing professionals, a practical and concrete plan for the supply and demand of the nursing workforce should be made. The Korean Nurses Association should mount a profession-wide campaign to make the government formulate a new and viable policy on the supply and demand of the nursing workforce.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of supplemental vitamin D on the physiological indices, muscle mass, and physical functions of aged women.
METHODS
A non-equivalent pretest-posttest design was used. The participants were 65 elderly women with low serum vitamin D levels. This study was conducted for 12 weeks. The experimental group (n=34) received vitamin D and regular exercise whereas the control group (n=31) received only regular exercise. The data were analyzed by the IBM PASW Statistics (SPSS) 19.0 program.
RESULTS
Serum vitamin D (U=0.00, p<.001), parathyroid hormone (U=99.50, p<.001) and calcium (U=250.50, p<.001) levels were significantly increased in the experimental group after the intervention. The experimental group showed significantly increased scores of muscle mass, strength, physical balance, and gait compared to those of the control group.
CONCLUSION
Vitamin D supplementation improved physiological indices, muscle mass, and physical functions. In addition, this program may help to prevent disorders of the musculoskeletal system in aged women.

Citations

• The Effect of Vitamin D and Calcium on Cognitive Function and Depression in the Elderly Living in a City
  Yu-Jin Lee, Yun-Su Kim
  Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing.2017; 28(3): 251.     CrossRef
• Comparative Analysis of the Effect of Physical Activity and Stress Experience on the Vitamin D Deficiency according to Occupations: results from KNHANES dataset for 2008~2013
  Jae Mun Sim, Hyeon Gyu Jeon, Kun Chang Lee
  The Journal of the Korea Contents Association.2015; 15(8): 505.     CrossRef
• Comparative Evaluation of Catchment-wide Solar Radiation to Locate Silver-town
  Seon-Jeong Choi, Jung-Sup Um
  Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society.2014; 34(5): 11.     CrossRef