– Now we’ve had a lot of medicines refilled, so that’s good, says nurse Marie Sævareid at Stavanger University Hospital (SUS) as she takes hold of large boxes full of contents. Despite the heavy lifting and high workload, Sævareid has persisted in her job as a nurse, but there is a reason for that: She has been given flexible working hours. Nurse Marie Sævareid has busy days at work. She is preoccupied with making work fit with family life. For her, it was crucial that the employer met her needs and facilitated a good combination. Photo: Cathrine Oftedahl / news – This means that I only go on day shifts when I have the children with me, says the 39-year-old, who is the sole provider of two children in the children’s and youth school every other week. Usually, the guards at bedside posts at hospitals are divided into three groups. Night shifts, evening shifts and day shifts. Young staff But not everyone gets the same opportunity as Marie Sævareid. The heavy on-call workload has therefore led to nurses quitting their jobs when they have families. It is mainly those between the ages of 30 and 40, shows a survey from Helse Vest. The rest are under 30. At SUS, over a third of the nurses on the bedside posts are under 30 years of age. There are 40 percent more people under 30 now than there were ten years ago. 2772 nurses now. 1973 then. This is the situation at many other Norwegian hospitals, according to a survey carried out by news. This is happening at the same time as we need almost 5,600 more nurses, figures from the Norwegian Nurses Association show. In addition, one in five nurses is considering quitting their job, which corresponds to 15,000 nurses. Doesn’t fit with family life According to the survey, the workload on duty is one of the main reasons. – The working hours, for example, do not match the opening hours in the kindergartens, says Hilde Christiansen, director of employees, organization and technology at Helse Vest. Hilde Christiansen, director of staff, organization and technology at Helse Vest. Photo: news She believes that it is important to create work plans that take care of needs in both family life and at work. – But this is not easy, she says. In ten years, the number of employees at hospitals in Western Norway has increased by 30 per cent without reducing the number of on-calls for the employees. – We often come across a set of regulations that seem to stop good solutions, says Christiansen. – Will never go back to bedside duty While Marie Sævareid has been given flextime, others have chosen to quit due to heavy duty workload. One of them is Mariel Vatland (29), who worked at the bedside for seven years. She has started anesthesiology studies to get away. Heavy duty workload was one of the main reasons. Mariel Vatland studied to become a nurse in Ålesund. Now he is taking further training in anaesthesia. Photo: Private – I will never return to a bed post. It could never occur to me, says Vatland. The 29-year-old had a three-part shift with weekend shifts every third weekend. In addition to illegal shifts, there was little rest time between shifts. I got physical symptoms – As early as 25-26 years old, I started getting physical symptoms during the busiest and most difficult periods. It didn’t seem promising. On top of a heavy shift system, she was often called at short notice with questions about taking on extra shifts. The 29-year-old left with a constant guilty conscience. – You don’t want to give your colleagues on the boat. It is difficult to say no, but the extra guards wear you out in the long run. Due to the lack of people, it was also not unusual for her to work double shifts. An evening watch often continued into a night watch. – There were mostly only young colleagues around me, and it was a good working environment. It made me persevere longer. – Deeply concerned The Norwegian Nurses’ Association is deeply concerned about the young staff on the bedside posts in hospitals. – They come straight from education and lack both experience and extensive training, says Tone Wang-Nilsen, chief shop steward for the Norwegian Nurses’ Association in Helse Stavanger. Tone Wang-Nilsen, chief shop steward for the Norwegian Nurses’ Association in Helse Stavanger Photo: Anett Johansen Espeland / news She does not agree with Helse Vest that the regulations seem to stop solutions for a better rotation. – In a partnership between employers and trade unions, it is possible to find solutions, says Wang-Nilsen. She refers to the criticism from the National Audit Office that hospitals do not make good enough arrangements to ensure recruitment. – Those who facilitate keep the employees – There must be a greater will not to be rigid. It must be based on individual wishes in different life phases, says Wang-Nilsen. She points out that the departments that facilitate this experience that they retain their employees to a greater extent. – We see a new generation that is much clearer about what expectations they have of working life. They set requirements for the employer regarding the conditions under which they must work. They will not compromise on family life, says Wang-Nilsen. Now the hospital advertises positions, without getting any. – We lack people in various departments. It wasn’t like this before, she says. The alternative would have been to quit Before Førebel, not many nurses have been given flextime. But Marie Sævareid is clear. Marie Sævareid, nurse at Stavanger University Hospital (SUS), has many different tasks at work. Photo: Cathrine Oftedahl / news – It would not have been possible without flexible working hours for me. The alternative would have been to look for another job. She believes this solution will help to retain and recruit more nurses to hospitals. – Getting the day going is important for people. We usually start work before both kindergartens and schools open. If you are a single parent or have partners who work in shifts, it’s a solitaire that doesn’t add up, says Sævareid.
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Nurses under the age of 30 ensure the operation of bedside posts at hospitals in Norway – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
