Gov't, Medical Sector Form Council to Eradicate Workplace Bullying Amid Nursing Abuse

Amid persistent workplace bullying and abuse within the medical field, the government and medical organizations have agreed to launch an innovation council and conduct a specialized survey on working conditions.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Employment and Labor signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) today (August 13) alongside the Korean Hospital Association, the Korean Nurses Association, the Korea Labor Foundation, and the Korea Employment and Labor Education Center to create safe hospitals where people want to work.

The health and welfare sector is an industry where workplace harassment is relatively prominent.

In fact, a 2024 survey showed that the rate of experiencing harassment was highest in the health and welfare sector at 25 percent, and last year, this sector also accounted for the largest share of reported workplace harassment cases at 16 percent.

Under the agreement, a total of six organizations, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Employment and Labor, will establish the Health and Medical Workplace Innovation Council to review implementation status on a biannual basis.

While the workplace innovation process will not be restricted to specific job roles within medical settings, discussions are expected to focus heavily on improving working conditions for nurses, given that nursing personnel make up a large portion of medical institution workers and following recent tragic incidents.

Last June, Kang Su-bin, a nurse in her 20s who had resigned after working at a hospital in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, died after appealing that she had been a victim of workplace bullying known as taeum.

At Uijeongbu Eulji University Hospital, a rookie nurse took her own life at the hospital dormitory in 2021 after suffering from harassment by senior staff, with similar incidents occurring at Seoul Medical Center in 2019 and Asan Medical Center in Seoul in 2018.

The participating organizations plan to accurately identify problems in hospital settings and establish a comprehensive response system ranging from reporting to labor inspections.

First, through a workplace harassment survey specialized in the healthcare industry, they will identify the current status of harassment, support systems, and relief measures in regional small and medium-sized hospitals and clinics, while also gathering field opinions.

They will also intensively support workplace innovation win-win consulting.

Hospitals recommended by the Korean Hospital Association will operate a fast track for rapid diagnosis and consulting without separate screening, and a customized organizational culture special diagnosis tailored to the hospital industry will be conducted to check potential harassment factors targeting nurses with less than three years of experience.

In addition, counseling will be strengthened through the Korean Nurses Association's Nurse SOS support window so that medical workers do not have to cope alone when harassment occurs, and measures will be established to link information on problematic workplaces identified in the field to the Ministry of Employment and Labor's labor inspections.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor is currently conducting nationwide planned inspections targeting hospitals where harassment reports have been filed. Specifically, it is inspecting 14 small and medium-sized hospitals that have received multiple harassment reports over the past three years for overall compliance with labor relations laws through August 14.

The ministry also plans to encourage the operation of shortened actual working hours, share best practices, reduce the workload of workers, and support them in securing adequate rest.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is actively considering reflecting criteria such as the establishment of systems to prevent and manage workplace bullying into medical institution evaluation indicators.

(Photo provided by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.