Research
Nurses and midwives mental health has been on a 9 year decline new study finds
A study has detailed the shocking toll psychological injuries have on the NSW healthcare workforce, with the rate of claims amongst nurses and midwives seeing a 150% increase over the last nine years.
The study commissioned by the Healthy Lives Research Group at Monash University examined the psychological health of public health workers and the risk factors that lead to higher instances of psychological injury amongst this cohort.
The report found healthcare workers and those working in the social assistance industry, comprised nearly double the number of psychological injury claims made to icare, when compared to workers in other sectors.
Psychological injuries sustained by nurses and midwives most commonly occurred within hospital settings (53%) and residential care services (36%) with stress and/or anxiety being the most common psychological injury.
The primary causes for increased instances of psychological injuries amongst this cohort, were found to be due to increased rates of bullying, work pressures and occupational violence.
Over the study’s nine year period, it found those working in NSW healthcare and social assistance sector had collectively lost more than 170,000 working weeks due to psychological injuries, equivalent to approximately 3.450 full time equivalent lost working years.
NSWNMA General Secretary Shaye Candish said of report’s findings:
“This report is a damning inditement of the NSW government’s failure to invest in our healthcare workforce and paints a bleak picture of the declining system nurses and midwives have been forced to work in over the past nine years.”
“Nurses and midwives are increasingly being overworked and it is clear their workloads and current working conditions are severely impacting their mental health.
“This report highlights the need for the government to urgently act and invest in prevention and early intervention strategies. That’s what our ratios claim aims to do. By providing nurses and midwives with mandated safe staffing levels, you are implementing a circuit breaker to help stop the mass exodus from the profession.” said Ms Candish.