Health and Medical Workers' Union: "Replacement of Doctors' Tasks Must Stop... Shifting Responsibility for Patient Safety"

Image source=Yonhap News

Medical institution workers urged a return to work amid a situation where physician assistants (PAs) and nurses are taking on doctors' duties due to collective action by residents opposing the increase in medical school admissions.

On the 28th, the Korea Health and Medical Workers' Union, which includes nurses and workers from medical institutions and welfare facilities, issued a statement saying, "General nurses who have taken on doctors' duties must bear legal responsibility for various patient safety issues regardless of their will," emphasizing, "Do not shift patient safety responsibility onto PAs."

Earlier, on the 26th, the government decided to implement a 'Pilot Project for Medical Support Personnel' allowing nurses, including PA nurses, to perform some of the doctors' roles to prevent damage caused by collective action.

The government explained that through the pilot project, nurses would receive legal protection for the acts they perform within medical institutions. However, the union pointed out, "The issue is not the reduction of legal responsibility but the fact that there is no legal protection at all."

They argued, "The workload of PA nurses replacing absent residents has greatly increased, with cases of working over 52 hours per week, and this overwork inevitably leads to medical accidents."

They also reported receiving information that hospitals are specifically preparing tasks for PAs to replace residents, such as obtaining consent for chemotherapy, various test consents, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, labor progression, and delivery room procedures.

They added, "No one sides with doctors who abandon patients," urging, "Stop indiscriminate replacement of doctors' duties and doctors should immediately return to the dialogue table with the public."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.