A nurse practitioner with 37 years at Taipei Veterans General Hospital (Beirong) dropped her plan to retire at 55 and stayed. The United Daily News reported that the public hospital association has proposed raising the mandatory retirement age for hazardous-duty nurses to 64, and the government is still gathering views.
According to the United Daily News, Yu Pai-fei, a cardiovascular surgery nurse practitioner, joined the hospital in 1989 and has done specialist nursing since 1998. She thought of retiring about two years ago but stayed. One reason was that three of the seven colleagues in her unit left at once, and she worried the rest could not cope.
광고 문의 · 300×250The paper also said she has served as a clinical teaching mentor for more than a decade and wanted to keep openings for student interns. A related report, however, said four of the seven had submitted resignations; the figures differ and this paper could not independently verify either.
Her work includes helping doctors assess conditions, scheduling tests, coordinating cross-department consults and bridging care from admission to discharge. She handles about 15 to 20 patients a day and walks around 12,000 steps. Her shift runs 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but changes in a patient’s condition often keep her until 7 p.m.
Retirement rules and the government’s stance
As described in the report, hazardous-duty nurses currently face mandatory retirement at 60 and may retire early at 55. The public hospital association proposed extending that to 64, and the national nurses’ union federation backed the idea. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it is collecting views and will consult the Ministry of Civil Service.
The head of the Taiwan Society for Healthcare Management suggested flexible hours, moves to outpatient or day shifts and teaching or quality-management roles, and said the government must offer more pay incentives. Cited causes of attrition were higher pay at private hospitals and long-term-care facilities, wages lagging prices and heavy workloads. An intern, Kuo Yi-chun, proposed raising pay by at least 20 percent and lowering patient-to-nurse ratios.