진료보조인력(Physician Assistant)의 법적지위에 관한 고찰: 자격조건과 업무범위를 중심으로

Abstract

If a person who is not a physician is medical practice as a physician, it is an unlicensed medical practice under the current law. And it's an illegal act. However, due to the lack of physicians now, health professionals other than physicians are engaged in medical practice. And they know that their actions are illegal. However, it is undesirable to allow anyone other than a physician to perform medical practice that deals with the life of a patient for any reason. Therefore, in order for a person other than a physician to medical practice, strict qualifications must be met. In addition, the scope of work must be determined. As a result, it is necessary to give a solid legal status as a new health professionals who can legally assist physicians. Three conditions must be met to clarify the legal status of physician assistants. First, physician assistants must have a certain level of qualification. In order for physician assistants, a new type of health professionals, to perform physician's work, they must go through a reasonable curriculum and strict verification process. Therefore, it is necessary to complete the curriculum of university education or higher, and have at least one year of basic medical education and clinical field practice. In addition, only those who have passed the national examination should be granted a license and perform physician assistance services. Second, the scope of work should be clarified. Physician assistants must be directed and supervised by a Physician. In addition, physician assistants cannot perform essential medical practices such as diagnosis, prescription, and surgery under any circumstances. Third, the scope of responsibility for work must be determined. Physician assistants form a vertical work relationship with physicians. Therefore, physician assistants are implementation assistants. So physicians are responsible for contracts under civil law and for management and supervision under criminal law. In addition, physician assistants and health professionals such as medical resident, nurses, and medical service technologist form a horizontal work relationship. Therefore, their scope of responsibility is determined by the degree of fulfillment of their respective duty of care. The fundamental solution to the problem of physician assistants is to increase the number of physicians. However, increasing the number of physicians is not an easy problem. So it takes a lot of time to solve the problem. Therefore, in order to save the patient's life, it is necessary to improve the system so that qualified physician assistants can work stably. And work is already subdivided in the medical field. Ultimately, legalizing physician assistants reflects the reality of the medical field. And this will be a condition for faithfully fulfilling the duty of the state to save the patient's life.