South Korea’s healthcare challenges and nursing resilience
South Korea’s healthcare system is under intense pressure. During the webinar, “Beyond Burnout – How South Korean Nurses Are Driving Change and Sustainable Solutions,” panelists highlighted a convergence of challenges — chronic workforce shortages, rising patient demand due to an aging population, and widespread burnout. Nurses are increasingly recognized as essential to system resilience, with their roles broadening to cover care gaps as healthcare systems continue to face staffing challenges.
Han Dong Su, CEO of Nurse Institute and Ph.D. in Psychiatric Nursing, said new nurses now face months or even years before securing posts, while experienced nurses are placed on unpaid leave as hospitals suppress hiring. Hiring rates in 2024 dropped significantly, driven by policy changes and an imbalance in nursing graduates.
Despite these hurdles, nurses have shown resilience and adaptability, remaining central to patient care quality. The speakers agreed that expanding nurses’ responsibilities demands parallel improvements in training, compensation, and support — reforms that are vital for sustainable progress.
Key challenges and opportunities in expanded nursing roles include:
- Competency gaps: Nursing education in Korea continues to emphasize memorization over clinical reasoning and hands-on judgment. As a result, students may graduate with excellent grades, yet still feel unprepared for real clinical decisions or advanced responsibilities.
- Transition to practice: Many new nurses experience a significant gap between education and actual clinical practice. They often enter complex roles with limited support, which heightens anxiety and can erode confidence early in their careers.
- Global models: Some countries, like Australia, have implemented evidence-based protocols such as the Emergency Care Assessment Tool (ECAT). These tools empower nurses to lead patient assessments and care pathways, improving wait times and helping build confidence in clinical judgments.
- Systemic inertia: Progress in advanced nursing roles is often hindered by entrenched role boundaries, limited feedback mechanisms, and insufficient legal and compensation frameworks to support these expanded responsibilities.
Panelists agreed: Expanded roles only succeed with matching training, support, and recognition.
How clinical decision support systems empower nurses
Evidence-based tools, especially clinical decision support systems like UpToDate® and UpToDate® Lexidrug™, are vital for empowering nurses and strengthening institutional resilience.
During the webinar, several key benefits of clinical decision support systems (CDSS) for nursing teams were highlighted:
- Supports clinical reasoning: Real-time, evidence-based information empowers nurses to make quicker and safer decisions, allowing for more accurate assessment of patient needs and effective collaboration.
- Bridges the education-practice gap: Integrating digital tools such as UpToDate into nurse training helps reduce anxiety, reinforces best practices, and builds on-the-job confidence.
- Reduces errors and overload: Digital references decrease reliance on memory and informal learning. By managing information load and guiding task prioritization, CDSS helps support nurse well-being and lowers error rates.
- Enables teamwork: Evidence-based protocols give structure to team dynamics and foster respectful collaboration, ensuring nurses act as decision partners rather than being limited to task execution.
System-level reforms needed to empower and support nurses
Speakers called for broad, multi-level reform. Key recommendations include:
- Advance education for clinical reasoning: Professor Park advocated revising curricula to focus on case-based learning and simulation, moving away from memorization and better preparing nurses for evolving roles.
- Redefine and support advanced roles: New responsibilities need clear definitions, fair compensation, legal recognition, and ongoing development. Creating career paths for clinical support and advanced practice nurses is critical.
- Widen CDSS adoption: All presenters agreed that decision support tools should be standard. Hospitals and training programs must prioritize technical fluency and workflow integration.
Enduring reform will require leadership and buy-in from decision-makers and regulatory bodies, along with the expertise of nurses themselves.
Take action to support your nursing workforce
Discover how UpToDate can empower your nursing workforce with evidence-based tools that enhance decision-making, collaboration, and care outcomes. Visit UpToDate’s page to see how this solution can transform your institution.