Parliamentary vote on the 13th… doomed day in medicine
The government and ruling party will present an arbitration plan today. Medical Association “General strike if passed by the National Assembly” Nurses foreseen “Establishment of a growing ‘role outside the hospital’” “Revocation of license even for simple negligence imprisonment” Doctors oppose the medical law amendment bill “maintained even in violent crimes… should be changed” objection
On the 13th, the enactment of the Nursing Act and the revision of the Medical Act are scheduled to be voted on at the plenary session, and conflicts between medical professional organizations are escalating. The government and the ruling party are scheduled to present a mediation plan on the 11th, but it is unclear whether the mediation plan will be accepted due to sharp divergence of interests between doctors and nurses. Moreover, if the two laws pass the plenary session of the National Assembly, the Korean Medical Association announces that it will go on a general strike, raising concerns about a medical crisis. How did the nursing law become a hot potato in the medical world?
The starting point of discussions on enacting the Nursing Act is in line with the trend of population aging. Due to the increase in patients with chronic diseases, the role of nurses is rapidly expanding to ‘out-of-hospital nursing and care services’ such as visiting health care, primary care chronic disease management, and community integrated care. did.
According to the Korean Nursing Association, as of 2019, there are 213,904 nurses working in medical institutions, and there are 35,000 nurses working in health institutions, long-term care institutions, schools, daycare centers, and government and local governments. However, the current medical law does not include the role nurses play in the community in their nursing activities. The purpose of the enactment is to systematically establish this.
From Article 1, the purpose of this law was clarified, ‘to stipulate necessary matters concerning nursing so that all citizens can receive high-quality nursing benefits in medical institutions and communities.’
Medical groups opposing the enactment of the Nursing Act take issue with the four-syllable word ‘community’ in this provision. It is argued that nurses can be the beginning of independent medical practice and independent practice in the community without the guidance of doctors. Regarding this, the Korean Nursing Association drew a line as excessive speculation.
In fact, the enactment of the Nursing Act contains grounds for controlling nurses’ independent medical practices. Article 10 of the lawmaker’s proposal broadly defined the nurse’s scope of work as ‘work necessary for patient care’, but in the course of discussions with the standing committee, it was changed to ‘assistance in medical treatment conducted under the guidance of a doctor’ as in the current medical law. Nursing laws exist in more than 90 countries around the world, including the United States and Japan, but they all take care of patients according to the doctor’s guidance (prescription).
Doctors are also voicing opposition to the amendment to the medical law. Like other professions such as lawyers, certified public accountants, and judicial scriveners, this bill revokes the license of medical personnel for a certain period of time if they are sentenced to imprisonment or higher. A license can be reissued after the license cancellation period has expired. However, the medical community insists that it is excessive regulation that prevents people from practicing medicine even if they are sentenced to imprisonment for traffic accidents or simple negligence.
Reporter Lee Hyeon-jeong
