배재미디어센터

What ‘the’ law changed in my life 

이수인

 Living as a person in the civilized era, the ‘law’ was created to protect us. The law protects us in many ways. For example, young adolescents are protected under the Youth protection Act, and our personal information is protected by the Personal information Protection Act. Today, I would like to talk about the most important and special law for me. 

 Before we talk about ‘the’ law. I would like to talk about a few medical problems. Korea is currently experiencing a manpower shortage in many hospitals. As society ages and life expectancy increases, more people visit hospitals, while the number of medical staff is scarce. Especially, for nurses, according to 2024 statistics, superior hospitals have to take care of an average of 16.3 patients per person. Also, the doctor strike, one of the biggest issues in Korea right now, is a direct hit on nurses. They are in a situation where they have to use more labor to fill their jobs. What is really ironic, however, is that no device existed until September 20, 2024, to provide legal protection against these nurses' excesses of work.

 So, can you guess what law we're going to talk about now? That's right. ‘The’ law I was going to talk about today is the 'nurse act'. The nurse act was recently passed by the National Assembly on September 20, 2024 and was officially enacted. A lot of things happened until the current nursing law was enacted, and today I would like to talk about what happened and why the enactment of this law was important to me.

 Shall we talk about some history? Before the nurse act was enacted, we were following a medical law in which doctors and nurses were tied together. However, there were several problems with this medical law, and since it was a law in which nurses and doctors were tied together, nurses were listed as an occupation for assisting doctors. In addition, the medical law was fundamentally enacted based on the Joseon Medical Decree created by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation to mobilize Korean medical personnel to war. This is a trace that can still be seen as a remnant of Japanese imperialism for 70 years after liberation. 

 From now on, I would like to talk about the limitations of the previous law and the fact that the nurse act had to be enacted accordingly. There are about 460,000 nurses licensed in Korea, but only about half of them actually work in medical institutions. Many of the new nurses are changing jobs or leaving the hospital. There are many reasons for this situation, the main reason is too hard work and unprotected legal responsibility. And as mentioned earlier, there is a study that Korea is currently at the highest rate of aging in the world, and it will become the oldest country in the world by 2050. The reality is that so many people visit hospitals. However, according to the Medical Law before the Nursing Law, there is a limitation that it cannot reflect the phenomenon of being subdivided and specialized because only doctor guidance and medical assistance in one space were emphasized. If nurse act are enacted, it can provide a more improved environment for more specialized and divided work and work more on patient safety. These realities made the enactment of nursing laws indispensable.

 One thing I would like to mention is that even before this law was enacted, the medical standards in Korea were so high that they were famous all over the world. So many nurses in Korea worked hard for their patients even in legal situations where they were not protected. I don't think this can be done without a strong sense of duty.

 As a nursing student, I think the enactment of this law could have been completed thanks to the efforts of seniors who worked hard. In order to respond to that sweaty effort, I will also sweat on the spot to become a better nurse for juniors based on this law. That's what this law suggests to me. The enactment of this law has become such a valuable law that has provided motivation to change my life.

 With the enactment of the nursing law, the way forward is to take pride in the profession of nurse. In the United States, nurses have been ranked as the most ethical and reliable job people think of for several years. According to the job ranking posted by Gallup in the United States, nurses topped the list, beating jobs based on trust, such as clergy and legal officials. Various factors may have played a role in producing these results, but the United States, where the nurse act have been enacted early, now has a much more stable work system.

 Like this, today we talked about laws that change someone's life. Just as small efforts come together to make a big difference, I should not settle for reality and try my best to my future and also try my best for those who are struggling. This law has left me many lessons. Do you have a law like this?