Nurses are permitted to perform CPR, suture wounds and prescribe medications to patients starting Friday, amid the prolonged collective action by trainee doctors. 

The health ministry on Thursday unveiled guidelines to clarify the scope of nurses’ duties. The ministry launched a related pilot program last Tuesday to expand the role of nurses, allowing medical institutions to decide the scope through consultations between nurses and the chiefs of the institutions.

The ministry presented standards for duties that physician assistants and general nurses can and cannot perform, saying there appeared to have been confusion at small and medium-sized hospitals when they were asked to set the standards on their own. 

According to the guidelines, which are effective from Friday, nurses can apply plaster bandages, disinfect surgical wounds, remove threads after surgery and collect arterial blood, which were originally the duties of trainee doctors. The nurses will also be allowed to perform CPR, suture wounds and intubate patients in the emergency rooms of major hospitals.  

Meanwhile, the government decided to divert 188-point-two billion won a month from national insurance funds to maintain medical services for critically ill patients amid a medical vacuum. 

The state funds will be used to compensate medical institutions that continue to offer services for critically ill patients, and to introduce grants for the specialists who treat them.