‘I Never Imagined My Career Would Trouble Me So Much,’ Nurse Says Warning Of Severe Staff Shortage
A staff nurse at the St Vincent De Paul long-term care facility has expressed the great exhaustion that her nursing career has brought her due to the severe shortages in human resources.
In an emotional post on social media, she admitted that she never thought the career she fought so hard for would bring so much emotional and physical stress.
“Honestly, I’m tired. I’ve given all my strength, both mentally and physically, to the sick. I never imagined that the career I struggled so much to get to would trouble me so much, the career that I always loved and always will love,” she expressed.
“The problem is not the patients under our care, but the fact that shift after shift, we have to deal with fewer hands,” she said.
“All this is because we have a severe shortage of nurses in Malta.”
“There is such a lack of staff that big wards that hold up to 40 patients are ending up having only one nurse during a night shift,” the nurse told Lovin Malta.
She also pointed out that this is not even due to a management issue, but due to the sheer lack of staff that they are experiencing.
“Less and fewer nurses are graduating each year, resignations are becoming more frequent, and the staff that leave are never being replaced,” she said.
“Can you imagine applying for leave months in advance and not getting it because they would not have enough staff to close the shift?” she said.
“How many people clapped for us from the balconies during the pandemic and called us heroes. How long they thanked us for all the sacrifices during the pandemic,” she said, referencing the time when citizens of Malta showed their appreciation for nurses by clapping from their roofs and balconies.
“But now that we are trying to show you how much we need to have our conditions adjusted, and you have not paid attention,” she emphasised.
“When our union tries to jump in for us, we quickly find someone who is trying to put politics in the middle and accuses us of trying to start issues,” she said.
She also stressed that nurses’ careers are not “a political ball” and cannot continue to be treated as one.
“Our working conditions need to be rectified because resignations have become too common,” she stressed.
“Open your eyes. This problem is not just for the nurses but for all the people. The people deserve to get the proper care. But when you have a nurse trying to cope with a job of four, the care you deserve decreases,” she said.
“When in the future you need the help of a nurse and you can’t find a nurse, don’t cry. We tried to show you the truth and you laughed in our faces,” she concluded.
What do you make of this nurse’s experience?
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