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Pensar Enfermagem / v.28 n.sup / October 2024
DOI: 10.71861/pensarenf.v28iSup.423
Editorial
Mental health and wellbeing of the
healthcare workforce: A challenge that
requires to act now
Healthcare workers are under high levels of stress, burnout and absenteeism related to staff
shortages, low pay or inadequate working conditions. Prevalence data suggests no
significant change in mental health issues among health and care workers since 2022.
Almost 40% of healthcare workers have had high levels of anxiety and depression. Besides,
burnout and moral distress is worsening, especially among intensive care unit nurses (Abdul
Rahim H, et al 2022)
The State of the World’s Nursing Report (WHO, 2020) presented a detailed description of
the nursing workforce at national, regional and global levels. Population ageing together
with an expected global professional’s shortage of over 10 million nurses by 2030 generates
a need to protect the mental health and wellbeing of healthcare workers. Moreover, nurses
are raising their voices on how their mental health and wellbeing is affected by demands of
their workplace. Therefore, employers are increasingly responding through the provision
of organizational and individual interventions. New initiatives are calling attention at
organizational level and policy action such as:
Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery at the 78th World Health
Assembly (WHA, WHO, 2021) provides evidence to support anticipated governance
decisions by WHO Member States on the education, jobs leadership and service delivery.
Our duty of care: A global call to action to protect the mental health of health and
care workers (WHO and World Innovation Summit for Health of Qatar Foundation,
2022) provides policy actions as a framework for immediate follow-up by employers,
organizations and policymakers.
Global health and care worker compact (WHA and International Labour Conference in
2022) reaffirmed the obligations of governments and employers to protect the workforce,
ensure their rights and provide them with decent work in a safe and enabling practice
environment that upholds their mental health and wellbeing.
The future of Nursing 2020-2030: Changing a path to achieve health equity (National
Academy of Medicine, USA) aims to advance the critical need of supporting nurses
wellbeing in ensuring the delivery of high quality care. To achieve this goal, they propose
bolster the systems, structures and policies that affect the health and wellbeing of nurses.
Bucharest Declaration on health and care workers (WHO-Europe, 2023) recommends
improving the supply (retention and recruitment) of healthcare workers, and optimize their
performance by creating decent, safe, adequate staffed work environments. Besides, this
declaration calls for an increase public investment in workforce education, development
and protection.
Magnet4Europe has studied in over 65 European hospital in six European countries with
twinned hospitals in the United States. The results indicates that organizational
EDITORIAL
Nursing Trends: research for a better
health – Lisbon 2024
Adelaida Zabalegui
orcid.org/000-0003-1205-3997
1Vice Director of Nursing at Hospital Clínic of
Barcelona. Associate Professor at Barcelona
University. Board member of Nursing Now Challenge.
President of Catalan Nursing Directors Association.
Editorial
2 | Zabalegui, A.
interventions should be implemented to improve hospital work environments and staffing mental
health.
World Health Professions Alliance, stands up for positive practice environments draws attention to
the problem through its assembling of 41 million health care professionals in more than 130
countries, and have found health and care settings that support excellence and decent work
conditions have the power to attract and retain staff, and provide quality patient care. Moreover,
recently the European Health Union’s comprehensive approach to mental health (European
Commission, 2023) acknowledges health workers are at a higher risk of experiencing mental health
problems related to their jobs and is prioritizing mental health €1.23 billion in funding. The impact
of failing to protect health and care workers mental health and wellbeing is clear and evidenced;
guidance exists for what needs to be done by employers, organizations and policymakers. However,
application of these recommendations within health systems and with appropriate policy action
remains a challenge.
References
Abdul Rahim HF, Fendt-Newlin M, Al-Harahsheh ST, Campbell J. Our duty of care: A global call
to action to protect the mental health of health and care workers. Qatar: World Innovation Summit
for Health; 2022 [cited 2024 Nov 26]. Available from:
https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/wish_report
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; National Academy of Medicine;
Committee on the Future of Nursing 2020–2030; Flaubert JL, Le Menestrel S, Williams DR, et al.,
editors. The future of nursing 2020-2030: Charting a path to achieve health equity. Washington (DC):
National Academies Press; 2021 May 11 [cited 2024 Nov 26]. Available from:
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World Health Organization. The global strategic directions for nursing and midwifery (SDNM)
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https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240073852
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