Hundreds of exhausted nurses quit Swiss hospital jobs each month

Keystone

Almost 300 nurses in Switzerland leave their jobs every month, mainly because of difficult working conditions. This phenomenon also affects young graduates, and poses a major challenge for Swiss hospitals.

High workloads, low pay, difficulty reconciling private and professional life: nurses’ working conditions are increasingly leading them to leave their jobs. According to the latest report from the Observatoire de la santé, 36% of young nurses aged between 20 and 24 leave the profession during their first few years on the job.

 + Nursing shortage causes alarm

“We never adapt the workload, we never add someone when the service is too heavy, when someone is missing we don’t replace them,” a nurse who has been in post for less than a year in a large hospital in French-speaking Switzerland told 19h30 anonymously.

“I can’t imagine being in this job five years from now at this pace,” she said. “So yes, I very often think about changing jobs. All my colleagues are thinking about changing jobs, and there are regular departures.

Peer support

Working conditions fail to improve. Faced with this exodus, some establishments are trying to find solutions. At the CHUV, a youth committee has been set up. This body offers peer support to new graduates.

“We have set up two questionnaires a year among new employees to find out how people are feeling. The idea is to have a safety net in terms of psychological or physical problems, or any other issues, so that we can sound the alarm,” explains Wassim Jerbia, a nurse at the CHUV.

Despite the difficulties, the profession continues to attract vocations. Enrolments remain stable, as is the case at the Haute école de santé La Source. “What interests me is the role of resource person,” says nursing student Lorraine Brandt. “I’m really hopeful about the initiative for strong nursing care. Things are on the right track for change. In any case, we hope to see them evolve.”

More training

The nursing initiative includes a training offensive. This is due to be rolled out in 2024, and will see almost a billion dollars made available to train more nurses.

This implementation is eagerly awaited by La Source. “We train 300 students. To meet the needs of the market, we need to train at least twice as many,” calculates Stéphane Cosandey, Director of La Source.

“The initiative will take the pressure off the system now. What we need to be intelligent about is ensuring that these measures are sustainable. And that’s the job of the Confederation and the cantons, working with the institutions.”

At a time when there is a chronic shortage of healthcare staff, retaining young people is a major challenge. In Switzerland, there are nearly 7,000 nursing vacancies to be filled.