Nursing Staff in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Take More Sick Days Than Other Professionals
Healthcare Workers Experience Frequent Illness at Higher Rates Than Employees in Other Industries - Healthcare Professionals, Specifically Nurses, Experience Higher Illness Rates than Workers in Other Fields
The brutal reality for nursing staff unmasked in studies from the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) reveals their frequent downtime. Last year, these hardworking professionals missed an average of 32.6 days compared to the national average of 28.5 days, according to the health insurance provider.
Manon Austenat-Wied, state manager of TK, highlights the glaring gap, "Nursing staff's absence rates remain substantially higher than in other professions." In fact, the average absence rate across all jobs was a mere 24.6 days last year.
Astounding demands on daily nursing life often come at a price to one's own health, Austenat-Wied underscores. She advocates for nursing facilities to cultivate supportive work environments to alleviate the profession's heavy load and make it more appealing. "Nursing staff," she chests, "are invaluable and irreplaceable in our aging society."
To unveil this local picture, Austenat-Wied scrutinized sick leave certificates of 103,000 employees insured with TK in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, making it one of the largest health insurance providers in the state.
Despite the challenges, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is home to approximately 21,000 nursing staff across over 1,000 long-term care facilities and services. With over 120,000 individuals needing care, the number continues to grow, prompting the "Pact for Nursing" to ensure the retention of specialists and maintain care offerings, especially in rural areas. Previously, nursing facilities have closed due to workforce scarcity.
Notably, broader patterns suggest that nursing staff absenteeism may be driven by:
- Rampant workloads and staffing shortages
- Stress and burnout
- An aging workforce
- Lapses in the work environment
- Persistent health and mental wellbeing struggles
- The pandemic's psychological and physical impacts
Adopting solutions such as better staffing levels, workplace health programs, flexible scheduling, professional support, improved work conditions, targeted health interventions, and policy support could potentially reduce absenteeism. However, more enlightening data specific to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern must emerge from focused studies conducted by local health authorities and nursing organizations for tailored recommendations.
- To reduce the high absenteeism rates among nursing staff in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, policy makers could consider implementing vocational training programs that focus on workplace-wellness, addressing medical-conditions, and improving health-and-wellness, such as fitness-and-exercise and nutrition.
- The high sick days taken by nursing staff in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern might be influenced by their challenging work environment, including factors like rampant workloads, staffing shortages, stress and burnout, an aging workforce, and lapses in the work environment, potentially leading to persistent health and mental wellbeing struggles and exacerbated by the pandemic's psychological and physical impacts.
- A supportive community policy could help nursing facilities in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern cultivate healthier work environments by adopting solutions such as better staffing levels, workplace health programs, flexible scheduling, professional support, improved work conditions, targeted health interventions, and policy support, thereby making the profession more appealing and alleviating its heavy load.
