About 10 percent of the nation’s emergency room (ER) doctors leave their profession 10 years into their practice, causing a serious manpower shortage, according to a study published at a medical conference yesterday.
ER doctors give up their practice for many reasons, including the flawed payment system under the national health insurance system and having to work in a perennially high-stress environment, said Lee Yi-kung (李宜恭), chief of the Emergency Department at Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital in Chiayi’s Dalin Township (大林).
“We found that ER doctors quit their practice more often than hospital-based doctors specializing in other fields,” Lee said at this year’s Annual Conference of the Taiwan Society of Emergency Medicine.
Lee and his team surveyed 1,721 registered ER doctors nationwide and followed their careers from 1997 to 2010. They found that during the 13 years, 10 percent of the doctors have either retired or changed their specialty.
The turnover was higher than that of doctors with other hospital-based specialties, like radiology, pathology and anesthesiology.
“The study results yield several implications,” Lee said, urging health authorities to pay attention to the brain drain situation in emergency rooms.
With 1,100 ER doctors taking care of 6 million patients per year, Lee said that an increasing workload resulting from the brain drain could drive even more doctors away.
The present ER doctor-patient ratio is already short of the 1:5,000 standard set by the Department of Health, he added.
“Being an ER doctor is a profession that requires accumulation of experience,” he said.
Unfortunately, the national health insurance system, which covers 99 percent of the population, does not recognize that, Lee added. ER doctors, for example, are only paid NT$400 (US$13) for conducting an intubation, a process that is done under high stress and requires intense concentration, he said.
The two-day conference, themed Refining Emergency Medicine Specialty through Excelling Medical Education, attracted physicians from China, Hong Kong and Canada.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS