More than 8,600 nurses have applied for waivers, largely due to a lack of professionals to provide the care provided, with the country’s central region the hardest hit, the Order of Nurses (OE) announced on Monday.
“The Ordem dos Enfermeiros has received 8,664 requests for apologies from nurses, 927 more since the last report published in December 2022,” the statement said.
The center is the most affected area, with a total of over 5,300 requests for apologies.
“(…) The focus is on the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra: in the last three months alone, there have been 245 requests for acquittal,” he points out.
With a total of 2,363 apology applications, the southern region is the second most affected area in the country, with the García de Orta hospital in Almada (Setúbal) leading in terms of acquittals with 341 requests.
The OE also notes that the Prof. Doutor Fernando Fonseca Hospital (Amadora Sintra) is the second hospital department in the southern region to record the highest number of requests for apologies without being ahead of the curve, noting that in February “it was completely overcrowded.”
Comparing current data with data from a year ago, there is an increase of 4,400 justification requests over the same period.
A disclaimer was issued in January 2021 to protect possible disciplinary, civil or criminal liability for nurses given the number of patients in their care.
At stake, the OE emphasizes, is a “deterioration in the quality of services, mainly due to a shortage of nurses,” which jeopardizes the quality and safety of the care provided.
In addition, the order also warns that most nurses working in public hospitals work around 70 hours a week instead of 35.
Citing several international studies, the OE notes that “for every additional patient cared for by a nurse, mortality increases by 7%.”
“This overwork, associated with the poor conditions that exist in hospitals, forces many nurses to work to the limit and get into a situation of“ burnout ”, he emphasizes.
The OE adds that thousands of nurses “emigrate in search of better living and working conditions, where they receive the fair compensation and recognition they so deserve.”