One-third of hospitals have reached the target nurse-to-patient ratio that was implemented on March 1, Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) preliminary estimates showed.
In response to nurses’ demands for more reasonable workloads and salaries and to solve nurse shortages, the ministry set new nurse-to-patient ratios for day, evening and night shifts and offered monetary incentives for hospitals that meet these goals.
Under the new standards, the target for large medical centers is a ratio of 1-6 for the day shift, 1-9 for the evening shift and 1-11 for the night shift.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
For regional hospitals, the standards ratios are 1-7 for the day shift, 1-11 for the evening shift and 1-13 for the night shift.
As for local institutions, the ratios are set at 1-10 for the day shift, 1-13 for the evening shift and 1-15 for the night shift.
Preliminary estimates show that one-third of hospitals have achieved the ratios, MOHW Department of Nursing and Healthcare Director-General Tsai Shu-feng (蔡淑鳳) said on International Nurses Day yesterday.
Medical centers find it difficult to achieve the ratio for the night shift, while the ratios for the day and evening shifts are easier to achieve, Tsai said, adding that about half of regional hospitals achieved the ratios.
However, staffing changes are still occurring at the hospitals, and the ministry only has statistics from one month, so the actual situation would be officially announced in the near future, she said.
In general, National Taiwan University Hospital has achieved the ratio for the three shifts, but some hospitals in central and southern Taiwan still have a long way to go, hospital Department of Nursing deputy director Lin Shou-ju (林?珠) said.
Staffing is still the key issue, Lin said, adding that the hospital’s total number of nurses did not significantly increase.
Lin said that the main problem is the difficulty in raising salaries in the public sector, and that it might improve if the government allocates a budget for it.
Since the new standards took effect, hospitals are required to report their implementation status to the National Health Insurance Administration on the 20th of the month, Tsai said.
The report would be published online after the details are confirmed, so the March report is expected to be out by the middle of this month, Tsai added.
If everyone agrees to the new standards and finds them feasible, the ministry would work to amend the Establishment Standards for Medical Institutions (醫療機構設置標準) to include the new ratios within two years, she said.
Separately, the average age of nurses have increased by about 0.3 years in the past five years, with the average age jumping to 39.35 last year, an increase of two years from the previous year, MOHW statistics showed.
The average ages of nurses in the US and the UK are relatively higher and the increase in the average age of nurses in Taiwan indicates that senior nurses are willing to stay in their jobs, which is beneficial in the early detection of patients’ underlying health risks and overall patient safety, Tzu-chi University Department of Nursing associate professor Lo Shue-fen (羅淑芬) said.
It was a good sign, Taiwan Union of Nurses Association chairperson Chi Shu-ching (紀淑靜) said.
The government and healthcare facilities are increasing their investment in nurses, gradually improving their working conditions, making senior nurses more willing to stay, so fewer young nurses would be affected by the low birthrate, Chi said.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital Department of Nursing director Ming Jin-lain (明金蓮) said she is glad to see senior nurses returning to the workplace, but the figure could also mean that young nurses are leaving sooner or did not even enter the workforce after graduation, adding that a high employee turnover rate is not good for patient safety.
Nurses aged 35 to 40 might be burning the candle at both ends, finding it difficult to meet the needs of their families and work at the same time, Ming said.
If they do not strongly identify as a nurse, they might leave the medical field and turn to jobs with higher pay, so healthcare facilities must improve the work environment to keep them, she said.
Additional reporting by Lin Chi-yi
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