The Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives repeatedly warns that in the current period of an enormous shortage of nurses in the healthcare system, our healthcare system is at risk of losing 20 % of its nursing workforce in a very short time. Yet even today we are short of 15,000 nurses. The main reason is the high average age and retirement, whether early or old-age. The causes of the enormous exodus of nurses also include the catastrophic situation in hospitals, fatigue, overload, burnout, and low wages.
Lukáš Kober, director of the SK SaPA office, states that according to current data from the register of nurses and midwives, we lost 451 nurses and midwives between January 1, 2021 and March 25, 2021. In addition, we suspended 302 registrations due to long-term sick leave, retirement, or maternity leave. Over the same period in 2020, we cancelled 304 registrations. As of today, we have registered 26 graduates — nurses and 6 graduates — midwives. For the entire year 2020, we cancelled 911 registrations and suspended 973 registrations. We registered a total of 389 graduates. Our system is losing hundreds of graduates each year and is losing experienced nurses with decades of practice who leave because of poor working conditions, low wages, and who suffer from burnout syndrome.
Nurses are a shortage profession in the healthcare system. Their enormous workload and constant exposure to a high degree of infection lead to ever greater psychological distress. We can conclude that we squandered possible solutions to the situation long ago. For years we have been alerting those in power to the situation the nursing profession is in; for years we have been confronted with disinterest, denial of reality, trivialization of the facts, and this is the result. Not only the pandemic, but also the inaction and lack of interest in addressing the dire situation of nurses and midwives in Slovakia has caused us to literally murder the nursing profession in Slovakia. Neighboring countries began actively addressing the situation with their nurses by radically increasing wages. The exodus is no longer a threat — the departure is here and has been happening for many years. The pandemic only accelerated the decision-making of nurses and midwives and fully reinforced their decision to leave, literally with disgust and a sense of frustration and grievance toward the state and politicians, states Iveta Lazorová, president of SK SaPA.
Current surveys from around the world, as well as from our country, speak of a dramatic increase in post-traumatic stress disorder, severe depression, or anxiety among healthcare workers in connection with the pandemic. According to a survey by psychologists led by author Miloš Šlepecký, respondents show these symptoms in an alarming 70 – 80 % of cases, which is an enormous figure. In the United Kingdom it is 45 %. So we should not be surprised that far more nurses will leave our system this year than in 2020, added Lukáš Kober.
The Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives submitted to the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic its proposal for at least a partial solution to stabilize the nursing workforce in our healthcare system — namely, a proposal to increase the wages of nurses and midwives. We are still waiting for a response and clear solutions. We have been waiting for 20 years. We can state that the representatives of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic and the Government of the Slovak Republic continue to underestimate the situation. Slovakia has reached a state that can only be resolved by stabilizing the current healthcare workforce and doing everything we can to motivate our own people to return to work in Slovakia. No government in modern history has managed to solve this, and the trend clearly continues. We pride ourselves on the fact that colleagues from Romania, Poland, or Denmark are coming to help our doctors and nurses. Yes, their help is commendable, but it does not address the situation that will remain here after they leave. Our nurses are leaving and will continue to leave, noted Iveta Lazorová, president of the chamber.
An excessive number of overtime hours, a ban on taking vacation, constant fighting and proving whether they are entitled to higher sick pay in the event of contracting COVID-19, unpaid overtime, and a host of other truly unbelievable obstacles have brought us to where we are. It is not only the pandemic. Thousands of nurses in Slovakia have been infected, but unfortunately there are also reports of at least 10 deaths among nurses. Nurses are a shortage profession in the healthcare system, and we are already feeling the consequences of the exodus of nurses from the profession.
Source: Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives www.ksapa.sk
The Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives (SK SaPA) is a self-governing professional organization with nationwide scope, based in Bratislava, associating 40,000 nurses and midwives. The main task of SK SaPA is to defend the professional, economic, and social interests of the chamber's members in healthcare, social, educational, and other facilities.