National Nurses United

higher standard that is appropriately respected by the global commu- nity." She noted that all nurses seem to share the idea that healthcare should not be a way of generating profits, but instead treated as a human need and right. The main challenge, as nurses here in the United States also face, for South Korean nurses on a day-to-day basis is unsafe staffing ratios. For the past six years, KHMU RNs have been applying the lessons they've learned from the California Nurses Association's fight to win a ratios law in lobbying their government to establish minimum staffing ratios. They've been making progress. Over the past three years, the South Korean government has implemented a voluntary ratios pilot program in approximately 50 hospitals. Whereas Korean nurses can typically be assigned up to 20 patients on a general medical-surgical unit and 10 to 12 on a more acute-care unit, hospitals in the pilot program limit the patient load to about 10 for a general unit and seven for an acute-care unit, and KHMU is pushing hard to lower it even more to four patients. Though all hospitals in South Korea are technically not for profit or run by the government, hospital administrators, just as they do in the United States, argue that lowering patient loads will be too costly. The ratios pilot program has enjoyed public support, though, espe- cially during the recent MERS outbreak, and initial indicators point to better patient outcomes and lower turnover and higher job satis- faction among RNs at hospitals participating in the pilot. Beyond the pilot, however, KHMU has introduced legislation to establish a ratios law, which is being currently debated and expected to be passed later this year. "The government has to accept that some kind of ratios has to happen," said Yoo. South Korea's recent battle against the MERS virus was also an opportunity for comparison and learning by KHMU nurses. The nurses explained that in South Korean hospitals, family members or hired helpers are expected to stay and help care for patients. This practice actually contributed to the spread of MERS, as patients infected relatives who carried the virus outside the hospital walls and became vectors for the disease. Of those who contracted MERS, about 40 percent were patients, another 40 percent were family members, and about 20 percent were healthcare professionals. For- tunately, unlike with Ebola in West Africa, no healthcare providers who have caught MERS so far have died. KHMU nurses, however, learned in detail what safety, equipment, and training standards NNU demanded from state and federal occupational health and safety agencies during the Ebola crisis and how that would apply to MERS and other potential infectious diseases that may arise in South Korea. "Our governments responded similarly," said Yoo. "Denial is the typical approach." KHMU RN leaders also provided some insight into the general trends and landscape of South Korea's healthcare and hospital sys- tems. The forces of global privatization are powerful and ubiquitous, so for years now, KHMU has been fighting the shutdown of public hospitals, the turnover of public hospitals to private companies, and the establishment of private hospitals. "Free trade zones" have been created around the country to allow the formation of private hospi- tals or quasi-private hospitals, and South Korea has considered entering in various international trade pacts that would allow pri- vate healthcare corporations to set up shop in the country. As previ- ously described, all hospitals in South Korea are currently either nonprofit or public, but a private company is now trying to build the country's first for-profit hospital on Cheju Island. Besides these major issues, KHMU RNs report that they share the challenges and struggles of RNs everywhere: to have a voice and respect in the workplace, to reduce and prevent workplace violence, lower patient loads to increase safety, and to win healthcare for all residents. "We want to reaffirm the core principle of our role as nurses in the healthcare system," said Yoo. "It's not about profit or cost, it's about safety, lives, outcomes. Nursing needs to be practiced in the public's interest." S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 15 Global Nurses United members convene in Brazil Global Nurses United, which consists of more than 21 nursing and healthcare unions from 19 countries and the formation of which was initiated by National Nurses United, convened this September in Brazil. Leaders of unions from Australia, the Philippines, South Korea, Canada, Dominican Republic, Hon- duras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Peru were all present. The Peruvian nurses union is the latest addition to the GNU community. The unions covered a very full agenda discussing, among other things, their respective and joint work on infectious dis- eases, workplace violence, struggles for ratios, climate jus- tice, labor rights in Catholic hospitals, ILO Convention 149, global trade agreements, and the Syrian refugee crisis. The executive committee set up working groups to coordinate future work on infectious diseases and on workplace violence. The RN leaders displayed great spirit at the meeting and tremendous pride in forming GNU and the substantive work it has undertaken. They agreed that GNU would stage another global week of action during international nurses' week next year, from May 8 to 14. "It's not about profit or cost, it's about safety, lives, outcomes. Nursing needs to be practiced in the public's interest." —Ji Hyun Yoo, president of KHMU

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