Nurses play crucial roles in improving global health outcomes, resulting in economic growth and global health security across nations worldwide. They form an integral part of the healthcare workforce in achieving sustainable health for all citizens of the world, however, the recent events in which a huge number of Nurses leaving the profession are highly disconcerting.
The World Health Organization released a report in March 2022 that emphasized the wide gap in the profession, the report stated that there is a shortage of health workers, especially nurses and midwives globally; and that for the countries of the world to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3 on health and well-being it is “estimated that the world will need an additional 9 million nurses and midwives by the year 2030.”
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Regretfully, these projections might progress over the coming years if there are no rapid interventions to address the matter.
You might ask, what is the reason for this huge turnover of Nurses from the profession?
TOP REASONS NURSES LEAVING PROFESSION
Below are some of the causes of high turnover in the nursing profession;
- Increased Health Care Demand
- Mental Health Concerns.
- Poor Remuneration
- Negative Workplace Culture
INCREASED HEALTH CARE DEMAND.
Registered Nurses are faced with a great deal of pressure at work, as a consequence of factors like understaffing, and retirement which is aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic effect, leading to a high patient-to-nurse ratio. The increased job demand created by a shortage of Nurses highly contributes to the movement of Nurses from clinical roles to new roles that are not demanding and with good pay.
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MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS
Dealing with various traumatic events such as the sudden death of a patient, drug overdoses, workplace violence, discrimination, and so on affect the mental health of Nurses and the COVID-19 pandemic was the tipping point in causing increased emotional strain for nurses. This psychological trauma, contributes to the increased rate of mental health disorders amongst Nurses, a large number of them reported having depression, lack of concentration, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), fatigue, detachment, insomnia, and so on leading to decreased work productivity and the quality of care given to the patients, so when nurses couldn’t bear it any longer, they quit.
POOR REMUNERATION
The pay nurses receive is highly discouraging even though there is a huge demand placed on them. At one point, some nurses reported having to deal with pay cuts by their institution in their attempt to meet up with other demands within the hospital.
NEGATIVE WORKPLACE CULTURE
Maltreatment of nurses at their workplace is another reason they are quitting, “nurses were overworked, underpaid, and burdened by a deteriorating health system that ignored their physical and emotional needs.”
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THE WAY FORWARD
Recommendations on how to combat the pressing issues of Nurses leaving the profession;
- Mental Health Support For Nurses
- Policy Advocacy
- Better Remuneration For Retention
- Investment In Nursing Education
Below is an overview of the recommendations:
MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT FOR NURSES
Hospital management should invest in supportive modalities and likewise provide behavioral interventions, emotional and psychological counseling for Nurses.
POLICY ADVOCACY
Policymakers and key stakeholders should advocate for better “legislation, policies, and rulemaking involving the nursing workforce, work environment, shortage, and practice authority.” They should consider investing in the Nursing profession to combat the global healthcare challenges to achieve a sustainable solution and “preserve the future of nursing”.
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INVESTMENT IN NURSING EDUCATION
A survey conducted by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in 2019 showed that nursing schools in the U.S. turned away over 80,000 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs 2019 due to an “insufficient number of nurse educators, faculty members, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors and budget constraints” which greatly impact the supply of qualified nurses to the workforce.
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CONCLUSION
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