Nearly 57 percent of nurses said they do not think a Cabinet plan to provide bonuses to night and overnight (graveyard) shift nurses would help to address the nation’s nursing shortage, according to a survey published on Thursday by the Taiwan Union of Nurses Association (TUNA).
The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the national nursing shortage, as reflected in official figures.
Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) data show that there are about 310,000 registered professional nurses in Taiwan, but as of Oct. 11, only 188,879 were working, accounting for about 60 percent, with about 118,000 nurses working in hospitals.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
Last year, the turnover rate of nursing staff reached 11.79 percent, while the vacancy rate stood at 6.53 percent, both a 10-year high, TUNA president Chi Shu-ching (紀淑靜) said at a news conference on Thursday, citing the ministry’s data.
In a bid to boost nursing staff numbers, the Cabinet on Sept. 28 approved a 12-point incentive program, which includes paying a bonus to night-shift nurses, with the aim of improving working conditions.
However, the plan has drawn criticism from many nurses, with some expressing worries that offering an additional bonus only to night-shift nurses could cause an inequitable distribution of nursing personnel and lead to fewer day-shift nurses, the union said.
The survey found that 34 percent of respondents said they completely disagree that the policy would help boost the workforce, 22.9 percent disagree and 22.8 percent were unsure of what effect it would have, TUNA executive director Hsiao Shu-tai (蕭淑代) said.
Many respondents felt the night-shift incentive policy would “be considered unfair by day-shift nurses,” she said. “It makes shift booking, shift swapping and scheduling even more difficult” and could cause additional sources of conflict among coworkers and create management problems, she said.
A shortage of nurses has led hospitals in Taiwan to close wards and reduce bed numbers. As a result, emergency room visits continue to increase, creating a heavy burden on emergency room paramedics, Chi said.
Reducing overcrowding in emergency rooms is critical to addressing the nursing shortage and better patient outcomes, she added.
The top-priority measures the ministry should implement now are to first raise funds to cover a salary increase of NT$10,000 per nurse per month for two consecutive years, and to amend regulations on nurse-patient ratios in three shifts, Chi said.
The poll was conducted from Oct. 6 to Oct. 9 by sending a questionnaire to 118,000 hospital nurses asking them questions about the night-shift bonus policy, with 25,519 valid samples collected.
MOHW Department of Nursing and Healthcare Director-General Tsai Shu-feng (蔡淑鳳) said the policy of offering bonuses to night and graveyard-shift nurses is only a supplementary measure in the 12-point incentive program, and the government’s policy direction is coherent with the association’s suggestions.
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