Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing (한국직업건강간호학회지)

Korean Academic Society of Occupational Health Nursing (한국직업건강간호학회)
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A Case Study on Workers' Compensation Approval for a Hospital Nurse's Suicide

병원 간호사 자살에 대한 산업재해 승인 사례연구

  • Yi, Kyunghee (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Nursing) ;
  • Choi, Seonim (Department of Nursing, JEI University) ;
  • Park, Bohyun (Department of Nursing, Changwon National University)
  • 이경희 (미국 노스캐롤라이나대학교 간호대학) ;
  • 최선임 (인천재능대학교 간호학과) ;
  • 박보현 (창원대학교 간호학과)
  • Received : 2019.09.17
  • Accepted : 2019.11.11
  • Published : 2019.11.30
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Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the process from occurrence of a hospital nurse's suicide to workers' compensation approval, responses of the parties involved, issues debated during approval deliberations, and significant policy changes resulting from the incident. Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with involved parties and collected various documents, including newspaper articles, forum proceedings, and the agency report on determination of workers' compensation. Content analysis was performed on the collected data. Results: A Joint Task Force continuously reported its progress and findings through mass media such as newspaper, radio, and TV. These activities exerted pressure on a government agency to conduct an occupational disease review and significantly impacted the workers' compensation approval. The agency recognized associations between the hospital's inadequate nurse training and the suicide but did not confirm the excessive overtime and workplace harassment experienced by the nurse as causes of the suicide. This case's media coverage and impact resulted in a law prohibiting workplace harassment and a hospital system dedicating at least one nurse to training activities. Conclusions: This incident had a significant social impact as the first case of workers' compensation approval for a hospital nurse's suicide. However, the case produced no structural changes in nurses' working conditions such as heavy workloads.

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