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.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS