http://www.doh.gov.tw/CHT2006/DM/DM2.aspx?class_no=387&level_no=1 Topic Stories http://www.doh.gov.tw/CHT2006/DM/DM2_p01.aspx?class_no=387&level_no=1&doc_no=84687 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health administered batch-by-batch border inspection of imported beef products at the airports and harbors from March 19, 24:00 until May 10. A total of 250 batches were inspected, including 65 batches of US beef, 56 batches of Nicaraguan beef, 113 batches of Australian beef offal and 16 batches of Panama beef offal. Examination has been completed for 236 batches by now, including 55 batches of US beef, 56 batches of Nicaraguan beef, 109 batches of Australian beef offal and 16 batches of Panama beef offal. β-agonist was detected in only one of the 236 batches inspected, and the news were released on May 4. The detected product was returned without being imported. No unqualified products were found this week. The FDA proclaimed again that an all-out effort would be made for implementing the border inspection measures of imported food. Products that fail to fulfill Taiwan’s food hygiene and safety regulations will be refused for import, and should be returned or destroyed in accordance with the regulations. 駐點工程師 Tue, 15 May 2012 09:15:31 GMT Imported Beef Inspected Batch-by-batch at the Border to Ensure Food Safety 駐點工程師 Imported Beef Inspected Batch-by-batch at the Border to Ensure Food Safety text/html Text 駐點工程師 Tue, 15 May 2012 09:15:31 GMT 駐點工程師 800 B00 I60 http://www.doh.gov.tw/CHT2006/DM/DM2_p01.aspx?class_no=387&level_no=1&doc_no=84686 The accomplishments of Taiwan’s medical care system and the National Health Insurance system have won an excellent reputation worldwide. It is the result of the selfless sacrifice and giving by all the first-line nursing colleagues behind the applause and honor. On the eve of the Nurses Day, I have to express my profoundest respect and gratitude to all nursing professionals. Nursing manpower shortage has been around for a few decades, and become a global problem now. In recent years, the aging population and increase in acute and severe diseases have been consistently aggravating the demand for medical care, and the people’s need is ever rising; in addition to the heightened requirement for medical care quality, these have further overloaded the work burden of the already short-supplied nursing personnel. We understand the hard work of the nurses, and fully recognize that nursing service is a fundamental and essential part of medical care. Nursing reform advocates the improvement of nursing quality and enhancement of job satisfaction. Therefore, the Department of Health (DOH) has implemented a number of basic reforming measures in the past year, including: the amendment of the Standards for Establishment of Medical Care Institutions, revision of the nurse-to-patient ratio in the hospital evaluation, provision of an earmarked fund of NT$2 billion from the national health insurance system for employment of extra nurses, increase of night-shift and overtime pay, promotion of magnet hospitals and the nurses returning program, and actually putting the inspection on hospital working conditions in practice based on the working hour regulations prescribed in the Labor Standards Act laid down by the Council of Labor Affairs. In order to refine the nursing reform program, we invited 17 nursing experts with practical experiences to form a task force. Intensive discussions have been made, and numerous inter-disciplinary meetings convened for a comprehensive plan on the institutional perspective, making in-depth analyses on the current status and problems of the nursing professi㎜on. Provided the medical care quality and safety are assured, short- and medium-term plans for nursing reform have been proposed, including 6 objectives, 10 strategies and 60 action plans. Improving the system, and creating an attractive nursing workplace. Specific strategies for improvement of the nursing system and creation of an attractive nursing workplace have been laid out through the in-depth review and reflection recently. The 10 strategies include: 1. Reduce the number and items of evaluation, supervision and assessment, inspection visit, going back to the principle of “patient-centered” care. 2. Set down work standards, delegating non-professional affairs to other auxiliary manpower and allowing nurses to focus on professional service. 3. Minimize unnecessary and trivial paperwork of nurses, and develop a more efficient workflow. 4. Improve the nursing work conditions, expecting to restore the normal working hours in general by 2014. 5. Increase the national health insurance-covered nursing fee; a special item for payment of nursing fee is to be added to acknowledge nurses’ contribution. 6. Explicitly specify reasonable nurse-to-patient ratios for the three shifts. 7. Encourage medical care institutions to raise remunerations and benefits for nursing personnel, and alleviate the situation of over-qualification employment and contract staff in public hospitals. 8. Study the solutions to the problems of low passing rate in the national nursing exam and the low practicing rate of nurses, and enhance the quality of cultivation and education for nursing professionals. 9. Provide incentives for teaching hospitals to allow reduced the number of patients to be attended by newly hired nurses during their training period, raising from 3,000 points to 10,000 points monthly per person. 10. Improve the social image of the nursing profession. The proposal of the reform is just a beginning, while the actual implementation in the future is more important; we will also engage in continual reviews of the medium- to long-term plans. DOH is committed to promote the satisfactory completion of the overall nursing reform, so that the problem of our nursing colleagues being overloaded can be relieved, and that nursing professionals may regain the enthusiasm and confidence towards work. 駐點工程師 Mon, 14 May 2012 14:13:02 GMT An Open Letter to All Nursing Colleagues by Minister Chiu – Let’s Work Hard to Regain Nurses’ Enthusiasm and Confidence 駐點工程師 An Open Letter to All Nursing Colleagues by Minister Chiu – Let’s Work Hard to Regain Nurses’ Enthusiasm and Confidence text/html Text 駐點工程師 Mon, 14 May 2012 14:13:02 GMT 駐點工程師 800 B00 I60 http://www.doh.gov.tw/CHT2006/DM/DM2_p01.aspx?class_no=387&level_no=1&doc_no=84685 Premier Chen, after being briefed by the Department of Health (DOH) with regard to the implementation date of the second generation National Health Insurance (NHI), made the following decisions: I. Implementation date: DOH will complete the amendments to the 37 legislations for the second generation NHI by the end of June 2012. However, it is necessary to reinforce publicity on the collection of insurance premiums (especially the executive details for collecting the supplementary insurance premiums) to the public and reserve time for planning operational details concerning deducting fees from the insured. In order to be fully prepared, the Executive Yuan decided to implement the second generation NHI from January 1st, 2013. II. Insurance rates: After the implementation of the second generation NHI, any adjustment to the insurance rates shall be first looked upon by the National Health Insurance Committee on the basis of the “linked income-expenditure and financial balance” principles. Thereafter, DOH will submit its rate-change plan to the Executive Yuan for final approval. According to various analyses by the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI), the National Health Insurance financial balance can be maintained (excluding the security preparatory funds) until 2016, should the second generation NHI (with a 4.91% insurance rate) be implemented in January, 2013. BNHI has proposed the aforementioned rate (4.91%) as one of the possible solutions, which will be open to discussion during the joint-committee meetings. If consensus is reached, DOH will accordingly report to the Executive Yuan for the final approval of this proposal according to the regulations. III. Changes on auxiliary funds for Health Insurance premiums reallocated by the Central Government: The newly amended Health Insurance Act clearly states that the auxiliary funds for Health Insurance premiums, which now local governments are responsible for, will be reallocated and directly managed by the Central Government. In order to solve the budgeting problems encountered by local governments, the Executive Yuan is considering bringing forward the implementation of three provisions (27, 28 and 35, pertaining to the liability of auxiliary funds for health insurance premiums) from the new Health Insurance Act. The Central Government will be fully responsible for the those budgets from the second half of 2012. IV. Auxiliary compensation for higher Health Insurance premiums will continue until the implementation date of the second generation NHI: From April 1st, 2010 the insurance rate was raised from 4.55% to 5.17%. Those disadvantaged groups whose financial burden increased due to the increase of their insurance rate will be compensated for the difference by the government until the implementation date of the second generation NHI. According to the implementation of the second generation NHI from January 1st, 2013, this compensatory measure will continue until the end of this year. In addition, Health Insurance premiums for low-income families have been fully covered by the government. In accordance with the amendment of the Public Assistance Act in December 2010, the government started covering half of the Health Insurance premiums of middle/low-income families from July 2011. The aforementioned measures have helped ease the financial burden of disadvantaged groups; therefore the end of the government auxiliary support for Health Insurance premium differences is expected to have a minor impact on society due to the lowering of insurance rates in the future. Premier Chen also urged DOH to make the best of this extra preparatory period to get ready with accurate planning, including the selection of professionals instructors and a full-scale communication and publicity strategy. The aim of these measures is to help citizens, industries and the insured concerned reach a full understanding of how supplementary insurance premiums will be calculated and their compensation deducted in order to ensure a faultless implementation of the new National Health Insurance. 駐點工程師 Mon, 14 May 2012 13:48:22 GMT Questions Regarding the Implementation Date of the Second Generation National Health Insurance 駐點工程師 Questions Regarding the Implementation Date of the Second Generation National Health Insurance text/html Text 駐點工程師 Mon, 14 May 2012 13:48:22 GMT 駐點工程師 800 B00 I60 http://www.doh.gov.tw/CHT2006/DM/DM2_p01.aspx?class_no=387&level_no=1&doc_no=84658 The results of strengthening the marketed meat inspections The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health cooperated with the Public Health Bureaus of county and city governments to strengthen the sampling inspections of marketed poultry and livestock meat products. From March 20 to April 18, 884 cases of marketed meat inspections were completed. Among them, β-agonists were not detected in 879 cases, with the passing rate of 99.4%; additionally, Ractopamine was detected in a total of five cases, including 2 cases of U.S. beef, one case of domestic pork (announced by the Department of Health, Taipei City Government on April 3), and the other one case of beef and one case of pork with the origins under investigation by the local Public Health Bureau. In this project of strengthening the sampling inspections, 1,000 cases are expected to be done by April 30, including 500 cases of beef, 400 cases of pork and 100 cases of ducks, geese, and other products, which are easily purchased in the markets. Meanwhile, related supporting documents about the origins of the meats are also needed to be inspected, including the places of origin and country names, receipts, delivery slips, permit notices of imported food and related products, and examination reports, to trace the origins of meats. The violation cases are followed up by the relevant Public Health Bureau. Those meats of the violation cases will be confiscated and destroyed under the supervision of the Public Health Bureau. Related importers are prosecuted with administrative fines by law as well. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health will keep strengthening the cooperation with the Public Health Bureaus of county and city governments to inspect the β-agonists residues of marketed meat and detect the violations, in order to protect the meat hygiene and safety, and safeguard the health of the people in the country. 駐點工程師 Wed, 09 May 2012 14:16:54 GMT Safety Food and Worriless Consumption 駐點工程師 Safety Food and Worriless Consumption text/html Text 駐點工程師 Wed, 09 May 2012 14:16:54 GMT 駐點工程師 800 B00 I60 http://www.doh.gov.tw/CHT2006/DM/DM2_p01.aspx?class_no=387&level_no=1&doc_no=84657 This announcement is aimed at clarifying the misunderstandings concerning related policy-making and execution processes of the DOH generated by various news media reports regarding the recent shortage of nursing manpower. In view of the ever more rigorous nursing practice environment, the DOH had proposed plans to promote the improvement of the nursing practice environment based on the following three main axes. I. Raise nursing staffing allocation and promote staffing reflux and “Magnet Hospitals” plan 1. Increase establishment standards for nursing staffing of medical and healthcare facilities, with the nursing staff ratio raised from 1 nurse/4 beds to 1 nurse/3 beds for hospitals with 50 or more beds (announced and effective starting Apr. 9, 2012). 2. Nursing staffing allocation was listed as the standard item for hospital evaluation in 2011, with the nurse-patient ratio of the day shift being a must-pass evaluation item. It will be considered as setting the standards of the nurse-patient ratios for all three nursing shifts by the end of this year, in order to request that hospitals recruit and maintain reasonable nursing manpower. 3. The Elevation of the Patient Care Quality Program of the National Health Insurance has an allocated budget of NTD$2,000,000,000, whose sole purpose is devoted to recruiting more nursing staffers. Hospitals were also required to provide monthly declarations of monetary bonuses (6-9% of standard fees) for paying hospital nursing fees to regular and additional staffers recruited. Personal annual bonuses can reach up to NTD$360,000 for regional hospitals (including hospitals in offshore islands). 4. Promote certification for localized “Magnet Hospitals” and plans for the reflux of nursing staffers. Establishment of internet platforms, provision of flexible working hours and counseling measures by hospitals are encouraged. These could help nursing staffers take into account the needs for both work and family, and establish a friendly working environment to attract licensed nurses by spurring currently unemployed nursing personnel to return to their respective professional fields. II. Specify reasonable working hours and improve working conditions of nursing staffers 1. In view of the fact that many nursing staffers are often asked to continue their work after clocking out, the DOH has promulgated regulations on “Matters that should and should not be recorded on the labor contract between medical facilities and nursing personnel” and “Matters regarding the labor conditions encountered by contracted hospital staff that fail to meet requirements by the Labor Standards Act (LSA)”. Hospitals are required to abide by these regulations. 2. The reasonable working hours of nursing staff have been set up according to the LSA. Hospitals are asked to abide by all related regulations set forth by the LSA in setting up normal working hours, shift rotations, vacations and reasonable shift assignments. 3. The DOH will simplify the standard indicators for hospital evaluation and documentation procedures for evaluation to lighten the non-profession- related administrative load for nursing staffers within 3 months. III. Promote mixed healthcare modes and increase the nursing supplemental manpower 1. Continue promoting the full-responsibility healthcare plan and establishing the shared care mode for patients, by nursing assistants and specialists. Related regulations on nursing assistants will be established in order to encourage the hospitals to participate in recruiting nursing assistants for the shared care program and to assist patients’ families regarding the company and life-caring of the patients. These measures should largely reduce the non-profession-related work load of the nursing staffers. 2. The nursing supplemental manpower will be established; this will assist in the execution of nursing supplemental affairs according to the nursing personnel’s healthcare plan. Data showed that the percentage of nursing license awardees for nursing graduates was less than 40% in the past 3 years and that approximately 10000 nursing graduates failed to pass their licensing examination in the first year. In order to avoid the waste of educational resources, the DOH has proposed the addition of Article 17-1 to the existing Enforcement Rules of the Nursing Personnel Act. The DOH will procedurally announce this newly proposed regulation to establish nursing supplemental manpower in hospitals. In addition, the DOH has synchronously set up related regulations and measures on the composition of joined care team for nursing personnel and nursing graduates in the hospitals, in order to provide patients with complete healthcare and ease the work load of nursing personnel. These regulations and measures are also aimed at helping nursing graduates work under appropriate clinical supervision and effectively increase the passing percentage of their licensing examination to create a triple-win scenario. As proposed by this new supplemental regulation, the newly recruited manpower should be personnel in addition to the existing nursing manpower of the hospitals, with the limitation that new recruitment should not exceed 20% of formal manpower of the institute. Additionally, the new recruitment nursing manpower should abide by regulations set forth by the LSA. This part of the newly proposed regulations is currently being announced, and will be formalized after gathering information from all related parties. The improvement of the nursing practice environment cannot succeed at first try. It depends on the highly collaborative efforts by governmental agencies, hospitals and nursing-medical societies. The DOH will make its best efforts to reach a consensus among various parties as how to achieve the goal of improving the nursing practice environment. 駐點工程師 Wed, 09 May 2012 14:15:33 GMT Department of Health (DOH) Adopts a Three-Faucet Strategy to Regain Nursing Manpower and Improve the Medical Environment 駐點工程師 Department of Health (DOH) Adopts a Three-Faucet Strategy to Regain Nursing Manpower and Improve the Medical Environment text/html Text 駐點工程師 Wed, 09 May 2012 14:15:33 GMT 駐點工程師 800 B00 I60