Frightening data caused by the pandemic require urgent action from authorities

(Patria) - Despite the COVID-19 new coronavirus pandemic, May 12, International Nurses Day, will be solemnly celebrated this year as well. This date is associated with the birth of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale.

Sabina Čolić, a graduate nurse, is the president of the Chamber of Nurses/Technicians, which gathers around 2,250 nurses, technicians, and midwives in the Zenica-Doboj Canton alone. Nurses – technicians are the most numerous healthcare workers in every healthcare system – there are over 30 million of them worldwide, and around twenty thousand in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Under great pressure

- For the second year in a row, due to the pandemic, we cannot celebrate Nurses Day with educational-promotional scientific-professional gatherings, as we did in previous years, states Čolić. She points out that Covid-19 has put the healthcare system under great strain, revealing numerous health weaknesses, and nurses and technicians have been put under great pressure.

- They are exposed to a lot of stress, "burnout" at work, infections, we are witnessing several colleagues' deaths, which means all of this is an irreplaceable loss for all of us. In response to this great pressure, we are the most numerous service providers. At the forefront of this fight, nurses and technicians have shown who they are, what they do, and why it is very important to invest in this important resource, says Čolić.

The International Council of Nurses (ICN), composed of 130 national associations from around the world, has chosen the slogan "Voice to Lead - A Vision for the Future of Nursing" for the celebration of its day this year.

 World associations of nurses and technicians have recently increasingly recognized nursing in public health, "Public health nursing," for which there is still no adequate translation in our country.

- It actually brings together all the activities of nurses and technicians in public health in one place, from preventive-promotional work with children, families, various population groups, at the workplace, in schools, kindergartens, and the like. They have contributed to the development of new methodologies, which are implemented in these listed institutions and facilities, thus directly working to reduce and prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, points out doc. dr. Nino Hasanica, head of the School Hygiene Department of the Institute for Health and Food Safety of Zenica.

Frightening statistics

Unfortunately, the data on the actual number of deceased, ill, and infected healthcare workers are far greater than those consolidated in the ICN reports. According to them, by the end of 2020, more than 1.6 million healthcare workers were infected in only 34 countries that submitted a report. The data show 2,710 deaths, but this number is significantly higher.

The average number of infected healthcare workers ranges up to 30 percent of all healthcare workers. More than 80 percent of healthcare workers have documented mental health problems due to overload and risks at work.

The ICN estimates that by 2030, more than 13 million nurses will be lacking globally. The reasons for these grim statistics include the fact that in the next ten years, one in six nurses will retire (almost five million people need to be educated), and additionally, there has been the largest exodus from the profession to date, due to professional stress and workload.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has made several recommendations, such as investing in the education of nurses and midwives, hiring more specialized nurses, investing in and strengthening the leadership skills of nurses and midwives, strengthening and recognizing the role of nursing in the healthcare system, and providing support to healthcare workers in strengthening and implementing health promotion and disease prevention, which are key to the further development of the nursing profession in the future.