Fatigue and burnout could be other reasons nurses are leaving for overseas contracts, says Fiji National University researcher Shanil Sukul.
While presenting a study on the Prevalence of Burnout among Nurses in the Emergency Department of CWM Hospital, Mr Sukul said leaving as a result of burnout was a lesser-known cause of the present exodus of nurses.
“The money factor is not the main reason for nurses leaving,” said Mr Sukul.
“It is the chronic workload that the nurses go through. The COVID-19 pandemic that we went through also added to their already stressful environment.
“Now it’s boiled over and we are seeing nurses leaving for greener pastures. “It is in the media that the money factor is the only reason, but this is another reason.”
Mr Sukul said 30 nurses were surveyed to measure their levels of burnout. “Of the 30 participants, 29 permanent registered nurses from the CWM Emergency Department (ED) participated in the survey. “Most of these participants have migrated from the time that they participated in the survey for better opportunities overseas.”
Mr Sukul said using the globally-recognised Copenhagen Burnout Inventory as a tool to measure each participant’s stress levels, the results found that most of the nurses experienced some form of burnout.
“The findings indicated that female participants were more likely to experience burnout in the work and patient-related domains.
“Nurses with more than five years of ED experience were more likely to experience burnout than those with fewer years of experience.
“In the personal and work-related domains, participants at the age of 32 and above experienced more burnout than other age groups.
“The nurses with one to five years’ experience showed a higher rate (54.55 per cent) of burnout in the patient-related category compared with other groups.”
Health Ministry permanent secretary Dr James Fong said he was aware of the results of the research.
“We acknowledge that the findings are true and real,” he said.
“We are trying to mitigate but our options for mitigation are not very big, but we are trying to explore better ways to deal with it.
“We have heard the presentation and we acknowledge that the challenges are real and our options for mitigation are quite narrow. There is a working group working on exploring what options we have to address this.”
Fiji Nursing Association general secretary Filomena Talawadua said in any healthcare system, it was the nurses who were at the highest risk of burnout.
“The most common signs of this burnout are shown in their emotional exhaustion, their concerns over their work conditions and contracts, and for some with their lack of accomplishments,” said Ms Talawadua.
“If they have a better offer somewhere and are given a better conducive environment to work in, they will take it.
“With burnout, they get emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted and then they have fatigue because of prolonged emotional strain because what happens it will culminate into detachment and inconsistency in providing the care for patients.”
Ms Talawadua said the fatigue and burnout experienced by nurses were caused by a wide range of issues that needed to be addressed immediately.
