Ulsan City Supports Training of Emergency Medical Personnel at University Hospitals, First Among Local Governments

Emergency Fund of 840 Million Won Urgently Allocated

Additional Response by Training 70 PA Nurses

Ulsan City has launched a project to support the training of 'Physician Assistant (PA) Nurses,' becoming the first local government to do so.

On the 14th, Ulsan City announced that it has allocated emergency contingency funds to support the training of emergency medical personnel at Ulsan University Hospital.

This pilot project aims to strengthen the capacity to respond to severe and emergency medical care by providing 840 million KRW in emergency contingency funds to Ulsan University Hospital for training Physician Assistant (PA) nurses, as the medical service gap caused by the prolonged strike of resident doctors continues.

PA nurses are dedicated medical support personnel who are delegated some of the physician's duties to assist in medical care. They perform 81 medical tasks including ▲supporting treatment of critically ill patients ▲managing ward patients ▲handling emergency room and intensive care unit patients ▲suturing surgical wounds.

Earlier, at the end of February, Ulsan Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom instructed to find ways to strengthen the emergency medical system to prepare for the prolonged collective action by doctors and minimize inconvenience to citizens during the monthly work report meeting.

The Ulsan City Emergency Medical Countermeasures Headquarters and Ulsan University Hospital reviewed alternatives to fill the resident doctor gap and decided to immediately respond by converting experienced nurses who usually work as regular staff, have rich experience in medical support, and are familiar with the medical environment into PA nurses, thus promoting this PA nurse training project.

Accordingly, Ulsan City and Ulsan University Hospital will first select skilled experienced nurses within the hospital who can handle a wide range of patients, including critically ill emergency patients, and assign them to PA nurse duties.

Currently, there are 116 PA nurses at Ulsan University Hospital filling the resident doctor gap alongside specialists, and an additional 70 will be trained and deployed.

Ulsan City will provide a total of 840 million KRW in support for 70 PA nurses from March to May for three months, based on a monthly rate of 4 million KRW (national contingency fund support rate).

With the addition of these 70 nurses, the capacity to accommodate surgical patients, handle emergency situations during night shifts in wards, and respond to emergencies in intensive care units is expected to improve, thereby strengthening emergency medical response capabilities.

The government has also been temporarily implementing a PA nurse pilot project since February 27 as a measure to support substitute medical personnel to fill the resident doctor gap, providing support such as on-call pay.

Ulsan City is the first to support the training costs for PA nurses.

Ulsan City Hall.

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