Medical Staff Move Through a University Hospital in Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 17 (Korea Bizwire) — A growing number of South Korean healthcare workers believe the country is facing a severe shortage of doctors, a situation they say has worsened over the past year and is fueling systemic strain across hospitals.
According to a survey released Monday by the Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union, 83.9% of healthcare workers—including nurses, medical technicians, administrative staff, and nurse aides—said they believe there is a doctor shortage.
The figure marks a significant jump in concern from the previous year, with 40.3% now describing the shortage as “very severe”—up 14.9 percentage points from early 2023, before medical school admission reforms sparked friction between doctors and the government.
The perceived shortage has been exacerbated by ongoing disruptions, including mass resignations by resident doctors. As a result, frontline staff report increased workloads and growing safety risks.
Among respondents, 91.3% cited the burden shift from doctors to support staff as the most pressing issue. Nearly half (49.2%) said they are regularly forced to conduct patient consultations or interviews in place of doctors, while 39.2% reported performing medical procedures and 35.5% said they were involved in administering treatments or prescriptions.
Some 29.5% said they frequently feel at risk of medical errors due to these expanded roles. Over half (53.8%) said their workload has increased since the political standoff between doctors and the government began last year. Among nurses specifically, 64.7% reported a rise in duties.
Nurses are busy taking care of patients at a hospital in Seoul on Feb. 27, 2024, when the health ministry announced a measure to allow them to conduct some roles of doctors under legal protection to fill the medical vacuum caused by a prolonged walkout by nearly 10,000 trainee doctors protesting against the government’s plan to increase the number of medical students. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
The survey also found that 14.4% of nurses are currently functioning as physician assistants (PAs), and 5.5% took on such responsibilities following the wave of resident doctor resignations.
Alarmingly, 43.9% of those engaged in PA work reported receiving no formal training, and among those who did, 40.4% said they received fewer than eight hours of instruction—most of it provided in-house by their hospitals.
The union called on the government to take urgent steps to resolve the ongoing conflict with doctors and to clearly define job scopes within healthcare teams. It also urged the swift formation of a workforce planning committee and the creation of a new national task force to coordinate healthcare labor roles and training standards.
“The government must act quickly to end the medical vacuum and protect both workers and patients,” the union stated.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
