Attracting young people to the nursing profession is challenging. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

The nurses’ union is urging the government to implement recommendations made in a study which found that its members are suffering from burnout and are treating patients in an impersonal way.

The conclusions of the report were published in The Sunday Times of Malta.

Contacted yesterday, the president of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, Paul Pace, said the review backed the case the union had been making with the government for years – that nurses are reaching breaking point.

“Actually, we were surprised by the fact that the number of nurses complaining of burnout and depersonalisation is much higher than we would have imagined,” said Mr Pace.

The study measured burnout on three aspects – emotional exhaustion, de-personalisation (treating patients in an impersonal way) and personal accomplishment.

We were surprised by the number of nurses complaining

Some of the recommendations being put forward in the report compiled by University lecturer and clinical psychologist Michael Galea are intended to have a better nurse-to-patient ratio, more job-related rewards, and provide social support at work.

Another recommendation is for nursing managers to explore ways of reducing job stress and tapping techniques for building social support networks at hospital. The MUMN president said the union would be raising these issues with hospital authorities, adding that throwing money at the problem would not necessarily be the solution. Nonetheless, Mr Pace said one major problem was staff shortages.

In some cases, he said, nurses at the ITU department had to look after four patients rather than one.

“According to our estimation, to have a full complement we need to engage around 400 nurses, half of whom would directly go to Mater Dei where there are currently some 190 vacancies.”

Mr Pace said there are around 3,000 registered nurses, of whom only about 200 work in private hospitals.

In this connection, he criticised successive administrations for introducing new services without having the required infrastructure and manpower in place.

“The new oncology hospital is a case in point, as this will require an additional complement of 48 nurses over and above those working at Boffa Hospital,” he said.

Mr Pace warned that attracting young people to the nursing profession was proving more challenging. The reason is there are much more avenues open, and conditions for nurses are not so attractive, he said.