(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — A significant portion of physician assistants (PAs), responsible for assuming certain doctor duties, operate in operating rooms or other areas involving direct interaction with patients’ lives, a government data showed Sunday.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare conducted a survey across 12 general hospitals, 14 hospitals with over 300 beds, 15 hospitals with fewer than 300 beds, and 363 PAs employed at these healthcare institutions.
The findings revealed that 73 percent of the hospitals had not established a distinct committee for PA management, while 68 percent lacked regulations or guidelines for overseeing PAs.
Inadequate training of PAs was evident, as one out of every three hospitals failed to provide preliminary training before the PAs commenced their duties.
Among the PAs, 39.3 percent (143 individuals) had less than three years of experience, primarily concentrated in general hospitals with a high volume of intensive care patients.
An additional 34.4 percent (125 individuals) of PAs worked in departments directly involved in patient care, encompassing operating rooms (104 individuals), emergency rooms (six individuals) and intensive care units (15 individuals).
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
