Ajou University Hospital Hires Twice the Standard Number of Nurses for Regional Trauma Center ICU
New Nurse Recruitment Considering Existing Additional Staff... Ministry of Health and Welfare: "Hospitals Also Bear Counseling Burden"
Professor Lee Guk-jong of Ajou University School of Medicine is responding as a witness at the Gyeonggi Province National Assembly inspection in October last year. [Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Professor Lee Guk-jong of Ajou University Hospital, who leads the Gyeonggi Southern Regional Trauma Center, criticized the hospital during last year's Gyeonggi Province National Assembly audit, saying, "(The hospital) used half of the budget for increasing trauma center nursing staff to fill existing nursing positions within the hospital." He sharply criticized the hospital for only increasing the staff by about half despite receiving budget support to increase by around 60 nurses.
Professor Lee has led the trauma center for several years, during which there have been various conflicts both inside and outside the hospital. However, his remarks at the audit brought these conflicts to the surface, causing a bigger stir. A few days after the remarks, in October last year, Professor Lee met with reporters and said, "The hospital does not allocate beds for patients," adding, "I had originally planned to leave (the hospital) a few months ago, but due to tasks such as helicopter introduction, I held on for now." He also said, "It is difficult that the trauma center system is not properly established, but I think it needs to be fixed. However, there is no way to prevent the budget from being misappropriated like that, and it is frustrating."
The controversy over increasing nursing staff seems to stem from differing perspectives between Professor Lee and the hospital. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, nursing staff for the regional trauma center ICU must meet certain standards based on the number of beds. For 20 beds, 32 nurses are required; for 40 beds, 64 nurses are required. Ajou University Hospital has 40 beds and, as of the end of 2017, employed 92 nurses, exceeding the standard. Of these, 28 nurses were hired at the hospital's own expense without separate budget support.
Following calls to improve the treatment of trauma center workers, a budget for personnel expenses was prepared the following year. Ajou University Hospital can receive budget support for staff exceeding the operational standard of 64 nurses, up to a maximum of 128 nurses. The hospital hired 36 additional ICU nurses, reaching the maximum of 128 nurses in September last year. The difference in perspective between Professor Lee and the hospital arises here. The hospital received budget support for the 36 newly hired nurses under the personnel expense category, and for the 28 nurses exceeding the standard, the hospital's previous expenses were replaced with national funds.
The budget support per nurse is 40 million KRW, but the actual cost borne by the hospital is about 20 million KRW more, reflecting the 'reality.' For the 64 nurses exceeding the standard among the 128, the hospital must bear an additional cost of about 20 million KRW per nurse, totaling approximately 1.28 billion KRW annually, which the Ministry of Health and Welfare explains is fully borne by the hospital. In the case of Busan National University Hospital, which has more beds than Ajou University Hospital, 87 nurses (as of September 2019) are employed, slightly exceeding the standard of 80 nurses. Trauma centers operating with nursing staff about twice the standard include only Ajou University Hospital and Ulsan University Hospital.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
