As the government attempts to reduce the weekly training hours for medical residents, the Korean Medical Association noted that the current level of 80 hours per week should be maintained to ensure the quality of training.
According to the medical community on the 13th, Park Yong-beom, director of training and education at the Korean Medical Association (professor at Severance Hospital's Rheumatology Department), argued in an article for this month's medical association newsletter titled 'Analysis and Suggestions on Recent Proposals Related to Medical Resident Training Bills' that reducing the weekly training hours could lead to concerns about the quality of training, and thus the 80 hours per week should be maintained.
Director Park stated that following a recent meeting of training directors from the Korean Medical Association and 26 specialty medical societies regarding the training hours for medical residents, they agreed that continuous working hours, including shifts, should amount to 28 hours, with 4 hours added for patient handovers and education.
He added that to reduce weekly training hours, the training period needs to be extended. In the United Kingdom, where the maximum weekly training hours are 48, the training period lasts 5 to 8 years, while in Germany, with 40 hours per week, it lasts 5 to 6 years.
Director Park said, "Medical residents have dual roles as workers and trainees, so a minimum amount of training time must be guaranteed," and noted that as training education is currently conducted according to the 80 hours per week requirement, discussions should be held on extending the training period if weekly training hours are reduced.
The government plans to expand pilot projects for reducing training hours to improve working conditions for medical residents. In this year's pilot project, the training hours (working hours) for medical residents will be reduced from 80 hours to 72 hours per week, and continuous working hours will also be reduced from 24 to 30 hours to 24 hours.
Kim Yoon, a member of the Democratic Party, submitted a bill to reduce the weekly working hours for medical residents to 60 hours, with continuous working hours set at 24 hours. Seo Myeong-ok of the People Power Party proposed a bill that sets weekly working hours at 40 hours, allowing an extension of 24 hours for educational purposes, while limiting continuous working hours to 24 hours.
Park Dan, chairman of the emergency response committee of the Korean Association of Medical Residents, also stated at a forum held in the National Assembly last month that, "Referring to examples from Europe and Japan, as well as International Labor Organization guidelines, the weekly resident training hours should be reduced from 80 hours to 64 hours, and in the long term, a phased implementation of a 52-hour work week should be introduced."