A bill has been proposed to prohibit overtime work by doctors and nurses to prevent medical accidents. Backing it up is a recent study, which points out that the level of burnout -- physical and mental exhaustion -- of nurses in operation rooms is so severe that they need some management.

Professor Lee Yoon-mi_이윤미 of Inje University and nurse Lim Eun-jin_임은진 at Veterans Hospital in Busan_{부산보훈병원} co-authored the research paper titled “The influences of operation-room nurses’ work stress, resilience and professional identity on exhaustion” based on surveys and other researches.

They conducted the survey on nurses working at operation rooms in seven general hospitals with 300 or more beds in metropolitan areas. The stress level of nurses was 3.59 out of five points, professional identity was with 3.44 points, and burnout was 2.61 points. Resilience level was 2.27 points out of four points.

The lower the resilience and the higher the job stress, the higher the level of burnout. Especially nurses working at operation rooms showed higher levels of burnout.

"Operation room nurses cannot relax a moment as an emergency situation can happen always. Also, they have to cope with sudden changes because their judgment and behaviors can significantly affect patients’ health," the paper said.

Previous researchers also found the level of burnout reduced patients’ satisfaction while increasing nursing errors and nurses’ quitting rate. The burnouts of operating room nurses, in particular, can exert significant influences on operational results and healthcare quality, the report said, stressing the need to prevent and reduce them.

"To avoid the burnout of operation room nurses and manage their stress, it is necessary to develop a program to promote resilience,” it said. “And we have to research to verify the resilience programs and make efforts to make them keep root in hospitals.”

Rep. Song Ok-joo_송옥주 of the ruling Democratic Party has proposed a bill to revise part of the Labor Standard Act, which calls for prohibiting medical workers from doing overtime work more than 12 hours a week.

hwz@docdocdoc.co.kr

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