Nursing Association: “More than 40% of nurses have experienced human rights violations… response is passive”

Nursing Association "There is a need for institutional improvement along with self-improvement efforts"

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Go Yoo-seon = More than 4 out of 10 nurses working at medical institutions have experienced human rights violations in the past year, but a survey showed that 3 out of 4 nurses who experienced damage did not take any action.

According to the Korean Nurses Association on the 7th, the Association's Nursing Labor Reform Committee conducted a survey of 2,105 nurses working at medical institutions, and 41.0% of respondents responded that they had experienced human rights violations in the past year.

The most common type of human rights violation was verbal abuse at 88.9%, workplace harassment at 67.1%, sexual violence at 17.7%, and physical violence at 17.0%.

The problem is that many nurses are unable to respond actively even after damage occurs. It was found that 76.4% of those who experienced human rights violations did not respond in any way.

The most common reason for not responding was 'I don't think there will be any change even if I report it' (83.8%). Next, 36.7% said 'because of fear of being disadvantaged in promotion or organizational life', 27.5% said 'because of fear of retaliation from the perpetrator', and 14.4% said 'because they do not know the reporting process'.

Even in cases where reports or responses were made, satisfaction with the results was not high, with 68.1% of respondents saying there had been no change in the organization after responding.

Relatively few responses indicated separation from the perpetrator (12.7%), official action (7.4%), and the problem was resolved or the situation improved (2.5%).

80.7% of respondents selected 'increasing the number of nurses' as the most urgent task to protect human rights, followed by strengthening legal protection (47.6%), improving organizational culture and eradicating 'burning' (41.9%), and strengthening violence prevention measures (39.2%).

Based on the survey results, the Nursing Association proposed as policy tasks the following policy tasks: ▲ establishing standards for nursing personnel that reflect the type of medical institution and patient severity, ▲ protecting victims and preventing retaliation after reporting human rights violations, ▲ establishing a response system linked to investigation, prevention of recurrence, and follow-up management, ▲ expanding the dedicated education nurse system, ▲ guaranteeing the training period for new nurses, and ▲ conducting regular fact-finding surveys and preparing standard indicators.

Shin Kyeong-rim, president of the Nursing Association, said, “We must ensure that illegal and unfair human rights violations and wrong practices are no longer passed down in the field,” and that institutional efforts to create a working environment that guarantees the safety of nurses must be made in parallel with the nursing community’s efforts to clean up.