Nurses suffering burnout - Several have almost exceeded their yearly sick leave allocation
Published:Monday | February 10, 2020 | 12:00 AM
President of the Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ), Carmen Johnson, has asserted that the number of nurses in Jamaica have reduced significantly in the last two years.
“In 2018 and 2019, we lost over 1,100 nurses. What we do know is that the health sector is operating with 52 per cent less than the staffing that they need for the entire public sector, both from a midwifery perspective and the general nursing perspective,” Johnson explained of the growing attrition.
According to the World Health Organization, an additional nine million nurses and midwives are needed globally for all countries to achieve Sustainable Development Goal three on health and well-being by 2030.
Johnson said enough nurses are being trained locally, as approximately 400 students sit the regional nursing examination each year, but proper retention strategies are not being implemented.
The NAJ president said the association had a meeting last Wednesday, where it was revealed that a number of nurses across the island are reporting ill because of burnout.
The increased burden sees nurses in some public hospitals working upwards of 12 hours per day, with a ratio of one nurse to 18 patients.
Since the start of the year, some nurses have almost exceeded their yearly sick leave allocation.
Nurses who joined the public sector before 1999 are allotted 14 days, while those who joined after are entitled to 10 days.
Jamaica Midwives Association Second Vice-President Bobby-Joe Campbell said both urban and rural health centres are short on midwives, but they are “coping under the pressure”.
This view was corroborated by Johnson, who used St Ann to demonstrate the point.
“Over 50 nurses left in 2018 and about half that amount left in 2019. The smaller hospitals may have had 10, but for them, 10 is a big number. All the facilities are experiencing difficulty coping, and our smaller hospitals are even more hard hit,” said Johnson.
SPECIALTY AREAS
Campbell explained that in addition to migration, the deficit also increases when midwives move into other specialty areas of nursing.
The Midwives Association representative said Jamaica’s infant mortality rate is not at risk, but explained that staffing and burnout are factors that can affect same.
“We want to keep those figures down. Death is never something a midwife wants to deal with, so we always give of our best,” she said.
Johnson said home births are on the decline, but there are still women who prefer that experience over a hospital birth.
Home delivery continues to be a part of the midwifery training and trainees have to conduct at least five such deliveries.
“Because of the reduction in persons who are staying home to have children – they don’t want to risk it, in case of a complication, and so the difficulty is how soon they (midwives) get those, so that they can register when they have completed their programme,” she said.