Nearly 7,000 national university hospital nurses have quit in the past 5 years

Over the past five years, the number of nurses retiring from national university hospitals nationwide has reached approximately 7,000. This translates to over 1,500 retirees per year.

According to data obtained by Rep. Kim Min-jeon of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee, 6,833 nurses from 16 national university hospitals retired between 2021 and August of this year. Of these, over 83 percent had worked for less than five years.

By year, the number of retired nurses was 1,680 in 2021, 1,805 in 2022, 1,541 in 2023, and 1,085 in 2025. As of August this year, 722 nurses have resigned, indicating a similar trend to last year.

By hospital, Pusan National University Hospital recorded the highest number of resignations at 1,313 (in both main and branch hospitals), followed by Seoul National University Hospital (1,255) and Chungnam National University Hospital (913). Retirees from these three hospitals totaled 3,481, accounting for over half of the total.

By length of service, those with one to five years of service were the most numerous at 3,306 (48 percent), while retirees with less than one year of service also numbered 2,412 (35 percent). Combined, these early-career retirees totaled 5,718, representing 83.6 percent of the total.

Key reasons cited for retirement included irregular lifestyles due to shift work, frequent changes in work schedules, inability to adapt to the job, high workload intensity, large patient caseloads, and psychological stress.

“Given the concern that the early retirement of nurses could lead to a decline in the quality of medical services at national university hospitals, measures to improve the working environment must be prepared promptly,” Kim said.