Key Nursing Challenges: From Staff Shortages to Resignations

The head of the Nursing Organization, ahead of Nurses' Day, outlined the most important issues and challenges facing the nursing profession in the country.

According to Mehr reporter, Ahmad Najadian, on Tuesday 21st of Mehr 1405, in a press conference held on the occasion of Nurse's Day at the conference hall of the Nursing System Organization, he said: "Perhaps the most important challenge of the country is the economic problems, which also includes health workers."

He added: Nurses were at work in the last two wars and the society realized the importance of health system services.

Nejatian said: The existence of 24 martyred nurses in the last two wars shows that the nursing community has always stood in front of serving the people.

The head of the nursing system organization continued: The reality is that we have to prepare ourselves in the health system for any scenario.

He added: The announcement of instructions to deal with the plague at the borders and other preparations in the field of health shows that the country is not in normal conditions.

Nejatian stated: In the current situation, provision of resources is one of the most important issues, which includes financial, medical and human resources.

Referring to the increase in health expenses from people's pockets, he continued: We hope that the national health accounts will be updated so that we know how to manage the expenses.

According to Nejatian, the health system does not have enough transparency, especially in the financial field.

The head of the nursing system organization stated: It seems that people should be aware of the information of health resources and know where and how this money is spent.

He added: We believe that nursing tariffs are very low and cannot compensate the costs of nurses.

Nejatian also added: We demand transparency in the financial resources of the health system.

According to him, the difference in the payments of the health system in the world has a formula that we should learn from these formulas.

The head of the nursing system organization emphasized: The biggest problem in the nursing tariff is the amount and the way it is distributed, which does not have the necessary transparency. Of course, we have given its formula to the Ministry of Health.

He added: "Unfortunately, the problem of nurse fraud has been exposed and the Ministry of Health is responsible for dealing with such actions." But the nursing system organization is ready to cooperate with the ministry to deal with such violations.

Nejatian said: The issue of home care is very important, which the country's health system has not yet understood.

He continued: Insurance coverage of home care services is one of the issues that should be considered.

Nejatian said: We have registered 38 nursing services in cooperation with the Standard Organization and we are trying to increase these services.

He added: "Nurses' rights charter is another important issue that we were following and we published this charter for the first time in the country."

Nejatian said: After the two recent wars, we saw an increase in mental disorders in society, which includes the nursing community. Accordingly, in cooperation with the Psychological System Organization, we considered providing mental health services for nurses.

He answered the journalists' questions during the press conference.

The head of the nursing system organization added: We are waiting to see the revision of nurses' salaries in the second half of the year.

Nejatian said: We hope to see good news on Nurse's Day regarding the extraordinary health system employees.

He added: The resignation of nurses is not a new issue and about 3,500 people left government hospitals last year, which is influenced by various factors.

Nejatian said: "Unfortunately, people leave nursing to choose another job or stay at home." Previously, leaving the nursing service tended to migrate abroad.

Regarding the shortage of nurses in the country, he said: We need 1.8 nurses for every hospital bed, which means we have at least 100,000 less nursing staff.

The head of the nursing system organization emphasized: "Unfortunately, in Tehran, there are 8 tenths of nursing staff for every hospital bed, which is not good at all." Because the living and livelihood conditions in the capital are much more difficult than in other provinces, and nurses are not willing to come to Tehran.

In response to the Mehr reporter's question about the payment of nursing services to doctors in the outpatient and inpatient departments, Nejatian stated: There is a payment problem in the emergency department of hospitals and the outpatient department, and such an issue is rarely seen in the inpatient department.

He added: "Unfortunately, in the emergency department of hospitals, we see that 8 nurses provide services to patients, but the money goes into someone else's pocket."