Critical Role
Nurses and midwives play a critical role in the provision of care and the optimization of health services resources worldwide, which is particularly relevant during the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, they can only provide quality services if their work environment provides adequate conditions to support them. Today the employment and working conditions of many nurses worldwide are precarious, and the current pandemic has prompted more visibility to the vulnerability to health-damaging factors of nurses globally. This desk review explores how employment relations and employment and working conditions may be negatively affecting the health of nurses in countries such as Brazil, Croatia, India, Ireland, Italy, México, Nepal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Influenced
Nurses’ health is influenced by the broader social, economic, and political system and the redistribution of power relations that creates new policies regarding the labor market and the welfare state. The vulnerability faced by nurses is heightened by gender inequalities, in addition to social class, ethnicity/race (and caste), age and migrant status, that are inequality axes that explain why nurses’ workers, and often their families, are exposed to multiple risks and/or poorer health. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, in formalization of nurses’ employment and working conditions were unfair and harmed their health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there is evidence that the employment and working conditions of nurses are associated with poor physical and mental health.
Conclusion
The protection of nurses’ health is paramount. International and national enforceable standards are needed, along with economic and health policies designed to substantially improve employment and working conditions for nurses and work-life balance. More knowledge is needed to understand the pathways and mechanisms on how precariousness might affect nurses’ health and monitor the progress towards nurses’ health equity.
Reference: https://human-resources-health.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12960-021-00651-7
