One in three NSW nurses are considering leaving their positions in the upcoming year due to the effects of COVID-19 and higher workloads.
According to a poll of 2300 nurses conducted by the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, employees are burnt out, with 15% of them showing clinically significant post-traumatic stress symptoms.
More than half (58%) intend to quit their current position within five years, 37% within a year, and 22% intend to leave the health industry altogether.
Prevention and early intervention strategies must be used, according to union general secretary Shaye Candish, to counteract the rising rates of psychological injury in the workforce.
On Wednesday, she stated, “The conclusions of this research are frightening.”
“Nurses and midwives will continue to suffer injuries and quit their jobs unless there is an immediate investment in safeguarding their psychosocial wellness and mental health, which will make the staffing shortages even worse.
“Some of the prevention steps we need to put into place include ensuring adequate personnel and a talent mix, improving reporting of workplace psychological risks, and increasing risk mitigation strategies to combat occupational violence.”
To better help personnel after traumatic events, the union also wants the present employee aid program to be revamped.
The top three retention strategies identified in the study were greater pay, better workplace assistance, and lighter workloads.
Early in their careers, nurses and midwives were deemed to be the most susceptible because they were frequently required to work double shifts and outside of their areas of specialty.
Michael Whaites, assistant general secretary, stated that the problems were present everywhere, including major tertiary institutions in urban areas and distant and regional health facilities.
“Patient care is being hampered under these working conditions, and it is having a huge negative impact on nurses and midwives,” he said.
“This study is a criticism of the Perrottet administration’s lack of action. There is plenty of proof that working in these conditions harms nurses’ and midwives’ mental health.
Hospitals in NSW, according to opposition health spokesman Ryan Park, have been grossly underfunded, overburdened, and understaffed for the past ten years.
He claimed that the enormous departure of nurse workers from our hospitals was just one sign of the NSW Liberals’ health catastrophe.
