Industry & reform
Enough is enough
It ’ s time to urgently address the nursing crisis in Australia .
By Kylie Ward
Nursing , already under pressure , is reaching breaking point due to the pressures of COVID-19 and a disjointed healthcare system , including the acute , primary and aged care sectors . We must act now to protect our nurses and healthcare ; the time has come for a national reckoning on nursing in Australia .
Australian nurses cannot continue to work under the extreme pressure they are currently operating under – the impacts are mounting .
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The almost 400,000 Australian nurses – the largest and most trusted health professionals in the country 1 – are a constant presence in every one of our major life milestones , national emergencies and global crises .
The nurse of today holds a science degree , possesses highly technical training , valuable medical opinions , front-row expertise , is an effective trainer , and is skilled in population and systemic thinking .
Importantly , there is also a major emotional and physical toll on nurses .
For too long there has been a reliance on the ‘ giving and goodness ’ of nurses – however , there is not an endless bucket of personal resources to draw upon to keep members of the profession fronting up to do the job , whether that be in policy , research , in hospitals , in the community , in academia , politics and across the aged care and disability sectors .
And now the signs are unmissable for a profession under enormous stress .
We desperately need a rethink about how we support and provide nursing care in Australia .
“ We desperately need a rethink about how we support and provide nursing care in Australia .
Nurses around Australia are reporting to the Australian College of Nursing higher than normal levels of occupational violence over the last 20 months . This comes off the back of unacceptably high levels : in 2019 , up to 10 per cent of nurses reported they had been either physically assaulted , verbally abused and / or subject to sexual innuendo , abuse or threats 2 .
Harassment and intimidation of nurses in the workforce has become so regular that in some workplaces it is considered ‘ just part of the job ’. When I was establishing myself as a nurse , I also experienced harassment and violence , but we didn ’ t have the language or understanding to know we didn ’ t have to tolerate it . This outdated and damaging mentality of workplace culture needs to end , and it is