Under the implementation of the nursing law next month, a Physician Assistant (PA) nurse will be entrusted with some of the doctor’s duties, such as bone marrow puncture and drafting a medical certificate to collect bone marrow tissue by piercing a needle into the bone marrow.
On the 21st, the Ministry of Health and Welfare unveiled the rules on the performance of medical support work, including the notification of the list of medical support work.
Although the government has already announced and publicized this policy, doctors who have expressed opposition to the medical license system are expected to strongly oppose it, saying it shakes the foundation of the medical personnel license system.
PA nurses refer to professional nurses with qualifications under the Nursing Act and dedicated nurses who have more than three years of clinical experience and meet the requirements for completing education.
However, those who have more than one year of experience in medical support work can perform their work even if they have less than three years of clinical experience. According to the nursing law, they will be able to legally perform 45 medical practices performed by doctors such as doctors based on the guidance and delegation of doctors.
The detailed list of tasks was integrated and adjusted from 54 actions allowed under the ‘Nurse Work-related Pilot Project’ to 45.
The list of 45 tasks included transport monitoring for the examination of severe patients, insertion, replacement and removal of nasogastric and ventricles, dressing of surgical sites, drafting surgical, surgical, surgical, examination, treatment consent and diagnosis, invasive support and assistance related to surgery, arterial blood puncture, skin suture, bone marrow and ascites puncture, seismic resistance during the delivery process, chest tube insertion and chest puncture assistance, and preparation and operation of artificial heart lung and artificial heart lung aids. Medical institutions that perform medical support tasks should establish an “operating committee” consisting of five or more people, including one chairman of the floor, and the committee must include at least one doctor and nurse each.
The Steering Committee deliberates and approves job descriptions for each nurse, and manages and supervises medical support personnel to perform their duties within the scope of completion of training.
Education for medical support personnel consists of theoretical and practical education, and field training at affiliated medical institutions.
Educational institutions are related associations, such as the Korea Nursing Association, the Korean Medical Association, the Korean Hospital Association, and their branches and divisions, hospital-level medical institutions with more than 300 beds, professional nurse education institutions, public health care support centers, and other institutions or organizations recognized by the Minister of Health and Welfare as capable of carrying out a dedicated nurse curriculum.
Medical support personnel have been called “PA nurses” and have been used as alternatives to their majors in medical institutions that lack doctors, but due to the lack of separate regulations in the medical law, they have actually been working “illegal” in an unstable position.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare estimates that there are about 17,000 medical support personnel working at medical institutions nationwide. The Korea Liver Association estimates that there are more than 40,000 medical support personnel.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said, “The key to institutionalizing medical support work is to lay an institutional foundation for the personnel who have performed the work so far,” and expects that this will ease legal anxiety among medical support personnel.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to hold a public hearing later in the day to hear opinions on the government’s notice and finalize and promulgate rules on the performance of medical support work through procedures such as legislative notice.
Until the enforcement date of the rule, the existing pilot project related to nurse work will be continuously implemented.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
