The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) yesterday released the nurse-to-patient ratio of all hospitals across the nation for the first time.
To improve the labor conditions of nursing staff in hospitals, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has advocated “reasonable” nurse-to-patient ratios and pay consistent with quality nursing care, the agency said.
At the agency’s office in Taipei, NHIA Director-General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) unveiled the first-ever ranking of hospitals according to their nurse-to-patient ratios last year.
“Nurse-to-patient ratio is the [average] number of patients a nurse cares for and can be used to conceptualize the workload of nursing staff,” Lee said.
The standard for hospital accreditation is less than nine — or one nurse for every nine patients — for medical centers; less than 12 for regional hospitals; and less than 15 for local hospitals, while hospitals that keep the ratios lower than the standards are rewarded with an NHI payment of between 9 and 11 percent.
According to statistics from last year, the top three ranking medical centers, not including children’s hospitals, were National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital and Taipei Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.
China Medical University Hospital had the worst ranking among medical centers last year, followed by National Taiwan University Hospital and Chi Mei Hospital in Tainan, the statistics showed, with the nurse-to-patient ratio at China Medical University Hospital being greater than nine for 10 months.
Lee said 8,045 nursing staff had been recruited at hospitals nationwide from 2010 to last year, with 3,623 going to medical centers, 4,636 to regional hospitals and 690 to local hospitals.
Although the additional staffing has helped reduce workloads, there is still room for improvement, he said.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS