As nurses currently work in three eight-hour shifts, it is hard for hospitals to hire part-time medical staff. (image: Kobizmedia/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – Part-time nurses can now have an opportunity to work again.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on November 11 that it would revise the nurse staffing ratio scheme in order to encourage medical institutions to hire part-time nurses. As nurses currently work in three eight-hour shifts, it is hard for hospitals to hire part-time medical staff. In particular, only the number of full-time nurses is counted in the scheme, which discourages the institutions to avoid employing part-time ones.
The current system, therefore, forces nurses who have a baby or study at school involuntarily quit their job. That’s why only 43.2 percent, or 134,000, of the total of 310,000 registered nurses work in the field.
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In order to introduce the revised plan, the ministry plans to allow part-timers to be included in the nurse staffing ratio. For example, a medical worker who works for 16 to 24 hours a week will be counted as 0.4 while those working for 24 to 32 hours per week are counted as 0.6.
In addition, the plan will include the introduction of night duty-only nurses. Those who are in charge of night shift will be counted twice in the scheme to give incentives to hospitals which hire medical staff only for night duties.
By Veronica Huh (veronicah@koreabizwire.com)
