President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of September 12 with a delegation led by International Council of Nurses (ICN) President Judith Shamian. In addition to applauding the organization for its contributions to nursing, the president also briefed the visitors on reforms to the nursing profession.
In remarks, President Ma commented that President Shamian, after visiting Taiwan in December of last year, is now in Taiwan again to attend activities on September 13 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Taiwan Nurses Association (TWNA). In addition, President Shamian on September 11 also delivered a lively address at the Asia-Pacific Nursing Research Conference, he pointed out. President Ma expressed confidence that the valuable experiences of President Shamian will serve as important reference to Taiwan in the development of its nursing community.
President Ma stated that the ICN, which was founded in 1899, now has a history that spans 115 years. Over 16 million nurses from 135 member countries participate in the organization, he said, adding that the ICN has throughout its history strived to enhance expertise in the nursing profession and promote care, health, and social policies with the objective of maintaining high service standards. President Ma stated that the contributions of the ICN have been enormous.
The president remarked that after an absence of 38 years, Taiwan since 2009 attended the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer. A ministerial-level official attends the WHA, he said, which offers the nation an opportunity to exchange opinions and expand bilateral relations with other nations throughout the world. The president expressed his deepest gratitude to the ICN for providing related assistance over this period.
President Ma mentioned that the TWNA and the ICN have long maintained an extremely close relationship. Since 1997, Professor Yu-Mei Chao Yu (余玉眉) and Professor Teresa J. C. Yin (尹祚芊) have been elected as the ICN's Third and Second Vice-Presidents, respectively, he said. Meanwhile, last year Professor Sheuan Lee (李選) was also elected to the board of the organization, he said. The president added that he also nominated Professor Yin and Professor Lee to serve as members of the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan, respectively, which shows that the government places great emphasis on opinions from the nursing community.
In discussing the challenges facing Taiwan's nursing sector, President Ma commented that around 240,000 individuals have received nursing licenses here, but only about 130,000 of them are practicing. He explained that many nurses are unwilling to practice after receiving their qualifications due to heavy workloads, insufficient pay, and a lack of dignity.
The president stated that the government two years ago began promoting a nursing reform program in order to address the aforementioned problems, and that to date a number of concrete achievements have been seen. In terms of reducing overly heavy workloads, he noted, in January last year, the Establishment Standards for Medical Institutions were amended to increase the number of nurses per patient. Under the amendments, the ratio of one nurse per four beds was changed to one nurse per three beds, he said. In addition, the number of administrative steps associated with the evaluation of hospitals was simplified to 14 from an original 49, meaning that the consolidation reduced the number by 71%, thereby helping to reduce the workload of nurses, he stated.
As for raising the salaries of nurses, President Ma further explained that since 2009 the government has appropriated a budget of over NT$9 billion to increase the number of nurses and adjust the pay of individuals who work night shifts or overtime, thereby boosting their incomes. He said that a survey carried out in February of this year showed that as of the end of last year, 80% of Taiwan's hospitals had already raised pay for those with night shifts, while 67% of hospitals had raised the salaries of nurses in general. In order to address the insufficient number of nurses in remote rural areas, President Ma told the visitors that the government expects to train 200 nurses within a four-year period in order to supplement the nursing manpower in rural areas. In addition, he said, the government will allocate NT$50 million to fund the pay of nurses who work at hospitals in remote areas as a means to encourage interest among outstanding talent in the field to serve in those areas.
President Ma emphasized that thanks to the aforementioned reform measures, the number of practicing nurses has increased by about 8,000 since the implementation of reforms, and that the turnover rate declined to 11.2% last year. The president expressed hope that prior to his leaving office in 2016 the number of practicing nurses will rise by another 1,000.
President Ma also mentioned that nurses originally sought a nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:7 for each shift. After studying the experience of Japan, however, the government hopes to achieve an average nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:7 across all three shifts.
Lastly, the president emphasized that the government places extreme importance on the development of nursing expertise and is firmly convinced that health and human rights are inseparable. Meanwhile, he said, health care should be isolated from politics, which would help to ensure the well-rounded development of health care systems throughout the world. The government will continue striving to promote health care and disease prevention work, and hopes to strengthen cooperation with the ICN so that Taiwan's public health sector can develop in step with the rest of the world, the president remarked.
In addition to President Shamian, the delegation included ICN First Vice-President Masako Kanai, ICN board member Lee, TWNA Standing Director Yin and President Kwua-Yun Wang (王桂芸).