Nurses demand enactment of the nursing law (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – The South Korean medical community is sharply divided over the nursing bill that calls for greater roles for nurses, with doctors threatening to stage anti-government rallies in case of its enactment, officials said Tuesday.
In June, the ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party each proposed a nursing bill, which defines legal roles regarding examination, diagnosis, treatment and other medical procedures that nurses can serve under the guidance or mandate of doctors.
President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoed the controversial bill last year, but the government and the ruling party changed their course to push for its enactment after the massive walkout by trainee doctors that began in February.
The bills propose greater roles and responsibilities, as well as better legal protection, for nurses and nursing assistants, and the National Assembly is widely expected to pass a unified version on Aug. 28, according to government officials and lawmakers.
Doctors have voiced strong opposition to the bill, arguing that it will cause serious confusion and conflicts within the medical community.
They have also said that the act would provide legal grounds for nurses to establish medical institutions without physician guidance.
The Korean Medical Association, a major doctors’ lobby group, has pledged to stage massive anti-government rallies “by employing all possible means” if the government and the PPP continue to push for the enactment.
In a moment of camaraderie and resilience, nurses exchange high-fives during their transition between shifts at the negative pressure ward of Daegu Medical Center on May 11 (2023). This day marked a significant development as the government elevated the COVID-19 crisis level from “severe” to “alert,” highlighting the ongoing dedication and teamwork of healthcare professionals in the face of the pandemic. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Nurses, however, have appealed for its passage, stressing the need for legal protection and better working conditions for them as they have experienced chronic workforce shortage and excessive work.
The Korean Nursing Association (KNA) claimed that nurses have been forced to serve roles that even fall beyond legal boundaries, particularly after most of the junior doctors at major hospitals walked off their jobs in February in protest of the government’s drastic increase in the medical school enrollment quota.
“Nurses have even filled the void of striking trainee doctors. But over 60 percent of hospitals do not take part in the government’s pilot program that allows such greater roles by nurses, failing to give due legal protection to nurses,” association chief Tak Young-ran told a press conference on Tuesday.
The Medical Service Act stipulates nurses’ legal roles and duties in a “vague and broad” manner by saying that they should provide assistance in medical treatment under the guidance of a medical doctor, dentist or Korean medicine doctors, the KNA added.
Rejecting the bill last year, the government said that the act would hamper cooperation among medical staff and eventually affect public health, while vowing to take steps to improve working conditions for nurses and expand community-based public health care services.
But it has decided to push for the enactment in an effort to beef up the public health care system and brace for an aging society.
The bill also calls for legalizing the physician assistant (PA) nurses system.
Often called clinical nurse specialists or operating room nurses, PAs are supposed to take over part of the duties of junior doctors in medical institutions, such as conducting tests and performing partial surgeries.
The South Korean government steps up in support of the nurses (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
(Yonhap)
