Three out of four nurses stressed, planning to quit
Three-quarters of nurses working in primary health care feel stressed and exhausted at work, with one in four planning to leave their job within two to five years, a survey suggests.
The state government has moved to support women with endometriosis. (File image - Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal)
The annual survey by the Australian Primary Healthcare Nurses Association (APNA) and heard from about 4000 people, its largest sample in the 15 years it has been conducted.
The 2022 Workforce Survey found two-thirds of primary healthcare nurses were working overtime, and two-thirds said they had an excessive workload.
One in four plan to leave their role within the next two to five years, and one in 10 planned to find another job within the next 12 months.
APNA president Karen Booth said the results were damning for the profession and dangerous for the healthcare sector.
“A strong, properly enabled nursing workforce means a strong primary healthcare sector that meets the health needs of the community,” she said.
Ms Booth said the impact would be felt for years as experienced personnel leave the profession, taking valuable training opportunities with them.
“We are not only talking about a loss of workforce investment here, we are talking about the loss of corporate knowledge that we would normally expect would train and support the new workforce entrants, that is, renewal of the workforce,” she said.
Those in primary health care work outside hospitals within general practice, aged care facilities, schools and other settings and make up one in seven of the 640,000 registered health professionals in Australia.
APNA said an exodus of staff would affect heart-health education and management programs, vaccinations, wound care and screening for diseases including breast cancers.
APNA’s survey found many staff in primary health care felt “invisible” to policymakers because they were not working within hospitals.
Nurses working at GP clinics said they felt under-utilised, while aged care workers most worried about staffing levels and receiving a 15 per cent government-mandated pay increase.
APNA welcomed the federal government’s National Nursing Strategy to boost numbers and its push to reform Medicare around a ‘around a multidisciplinary model of care.’
Ms Booth urged nurses to fill out the 2023 survey.
“Now is the time for a call to arms for nurses to help inform the future direction of our workforce,” she said.
APNA’s 2023 Workforce Survey has just opened. Primary health care nurses can access the survey at www.apna.asn.au
