Page 20 - IB April 2023

Health Health

Photo: WHO

Fiji nurses during COVID

THE PACIFIC’S NURSING CRISIS

‘AN UNPRECEDENTED SHORTAGE’

By Samantha Magick and Kite Pareti for some time, but asserts that it has gone unaddressed by
government.
Pacific Heads of Health have heard that the shortage of “I think we underestimated the migration power of nurses,”
skilled nurses in the region is “unprecedented and poses a Dr Vudiniabola says.
threat to the stability, accessibility and quality of essential “The impact it has had on patient care is unbelievable,” she
care delivered at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.” adds, noting that the effect can be felt not only on wards and
Concerns about the nursing shortage were raised in a num- in clinics, but also in pared-back outreach programs, health
ber of papers provided to the Heads of Health (HoH) ahead of promotion programs, and home visits. “If we don’t address
their regional summit this month. the issues facing the community, you will get a full hospital. If
The papers, which have been produced by the Pacific Com- you see a hospital full of patients, then you’ll know something
munity (SPC), note that this is not a new concern, as since is wrong.”
2013, “inadequate human resources for health have been a
constant theme of discussions, resolutions and recommenda- A global problem
tions,” but that these shortages have escalated considerably There are an estimated 9.84 nurses per 10,000 people
in recent years. across the Pacific, and they deliver most health services,
“National leadership and governance to advance the health especially in remote islands, says the SPC.
workforce agenda remains weak; while the departure of quali- “Whenever we have meetings with other Pacific Island
fied health staff causes already difficult working conditions to countries, we talk about the migration of nurses,” Dr Vudini-
worsen. There is inadequate and/or fragmented health work- abola says. “[Once] Fiji was still able to cope, unlike small
force data to guide policy decisions, obsolete or non-existent island countries in the Pacific like Tokelau, Nauru, Cook Is-
strategic health workforce plans and inadequate resources. lands. Those island countries were having a shortage of nurses
In addition, regulation and accreditation requirements dif- because they can’t really train a big number of nurses.”
fer across the region and the health education and training COVID exacerbated the problem, the SPC notes: “Provision
capacity for pre-service and continued professional develop- of quality care in critically ill patients exhausted an already
ment is of variable quality and often insufficient quality,” the small workforce and frontline workers that lacked train-
Heads of Health (HoH) have been cautioned. ing in specialised care. This affected the mental health and
The President of the Fiji Nursing Association, Dr Alisi Vu- wellbeing of health workers who felt unprepared to manage
diniabola, agrees that the nursing shortage has been building critically unwell patients, as well as communities who felt

20 Islands Business, April 2023