The Path to Obtaining Specialist Nurse Certification Widens... Career Recognition and Expansion of Training Institutions

Ministry of Health and Welfare Partially Revises 'Regulations on Qualification Recognition for Specialist Nurses'

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 16th that it has promulgated and will immediately enforce a partial amendment to the 'Regulations on the Recognition of Qualifications for Specialist Nurses,' aiming to expand opportunities for obtaining specialist nurse qualifications and education.

Specialist nurses are professional qualification occupations recognized by the Minister of Health and Welfare in 13 fields including health, anesthesia, psychiatry, home care, infection control, industrial health, emergency care, geriatrics, critical care, hospice, oncology, clinical, and pediatrics, according to Article 78 of the Medical Service Act.

The amendment first expanded the institutions recognized for practical experience required before completing the specialist nurse education program. Accordingly, in the psychiatry field, in addition to the previously recognized mental health promotion facilities, mental health welfare centers, and public health centers, nursing experience at the National Trauma Center, Integrated Addiction Management Support Center, and dementia management project institutions will also be recognized as practical experience.

The criteria for designating specialist nurse education institutions regarding practice agreement institutions have also been expanded. Previously, only 'mandatory practice agreement institutions' that must have contracts by field were stipulated, but going forward, five specialist fields including psychiatry, industrial health, geriatrics, hospice, and pediatrics will also have 'optional practice agreement institutions.' Accordingly, in the pediatrics field, medical institutions such as hospitals and clinics other than general hospitals with more than 300 beds, which are mandatory practice agreement institutions, as well as school health facilities, can be selected as practice agreement institutions.

Park Hyerin, Director of the Nursing Policy Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "We have amended the related regulations to expand opportunities for obtaining specialist nurse qualifications and to allow diverse practical training in specialist nurse education programs. We will continue to promote policy efforts to increase the production of excellent specialist nurses and enhance their expertise."