South Korea’s nursing workforce ranks near the bottom of OECD countries, with many nurses leaving hospitals due to poor working conditions and heavy labor. The government has proposed a plan to convert nursing assistants into practicing nurses, but this is controversial because it risks lowering the quality of care and increasing medical errors. The solution is to improve the treatment and compensation of nurses.
South Korea has a severe shortage of hospital nurses, ranking among the lowest among OECD countries. One of the biggest reasons for the shortage is poor working conditions and heavy labor. This is evidenced by the fact that only 40% of those with a nursing license actually work in hospitals. This has a direct impact on patients and their caregivers, as many nurses quit or seek other careers due to poor conditions. There are constant complaints about the lack of nursing care in hospitals, and it is known that this issue is slowing down patients’ recovery and even shortening their lives.
The government is exploring various ways to address this situation. One of them is a plan to reorganize the nursing workforce by allowing nursing assistants to work as nurses. While this may alleviate the shortage in the short term, experts are concerned about the possible side effects. Given that nursing assistants cannot fully replace the role of a nurse, this could lead to higher rates of medical errors and lower quality of care.
The nursing shortage has led to a disproportionate increase in the number of patients and workload that nurses have to handle in hospitals. The more patients a nurse has to cover, the lower the quality of care they can provide to each individual patient. This causes nurses to become extremely stressed and eventually decide to leave the organization. However, when one nurse leaves, the workload of the remaining nurses becomes even heavier, which creates a vicious cycle that encourages new departures. In addition, the irregular lifestyle of working three shifts takes a toll on nurses’ health and mental well-being, which is another factor that drives them to leave the profession.
Despite this challenging work environment, nurses are not well compensated. If nurses were rewarded for their hard work, we could reduce the number of nurses leaving the profession to some extent. However, in the current situation, it is difficult to prevent nurses from leaving.
The government has made several efforts to address the shortage of nurses, including expanding the number of nursing schools. In fact, while the number of nurses graduated from nursing schools has increased, many nurses leave hospitals due to poor working conditions, such as working three shifts, or refuse to work at all. This shows that the shortage cannot be solved by simply increasing the number of nurses; it is more important to improve the environment for licensed nurses to work in practice.
The government’s plan to reorganize the nursing workforce is to convert nursing assistants into nursing practitioners to perform nursing tasks. However, as nursing assistants cannot take over the role of nurses, this could lead to a decline in the quality of nursing care and increase the risk of medical errors. Nurses are specialized workers with rigorous education and training, and their experience and knowledge are directly related to patient safety. As such, relying on nursing assistants to fulfill the roles of nurses is not a good solution.
The key to solving the nursing shortage is to improve the treatment of nurses and compensate them for their hard work. Nurses need to be compensated for the services they provide. To do this, we need to reform the way healthcare is paid so that nurses are compensated for the services they provide. With better compensation, nurse turnover would decrease, and the nursing shortage would naturally be solved. Once the shortage is addressed, nurses will be less overworked, which will ultimately improve the quality of care provided to patients.
In addition, we should also look for practical solutions, such as moving away from the traditional three-shift system and introducing dedicated night nurses. The three-shift system has irregularized nurses’ life patterns and put a lot of pressure on them. If these working arrangements are improved, nurses will be able to lead a more regular life, which will have a positive impact on improving the quality of nursing care. Finally, the government should abolish the nurse workforce reorganization plan. This may solve the nursing shortage in the short term, but in the long term, it will lead to bigger problems, including lower quality of care, more medical errors, and lower nurses’ self-esteem.
The nursing shortage cannot be solved by simply increasing staffing levels. It requires a sustained effort to address the underlying issues. Governments and the healthcare industry need to work together to improve the treatment of nurses, respect their expertise, and compensate them accordingly. Along with this, creating a stable environment for nurses to work in will be the ultimate solution.
