Japan Press Weekly

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2017 September 20 - 26 [LABOR]

70% of nurses suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome: union survey

Seven in ten nurses always feel exhausted. This is shown in the survey results that the Japan Federation of Medical Workers’ Unions (Iroren) on September 20 published. Harsh working conditions of nursing personnel remain unchanged from the previous survey.

Iroren has conducted a survey on working conditions of nurses once in every five years since 1988. Over 33,000 nurses are included in the latest survey.

The survey found that 71.7% of the respondents had symptoms of chronic fatigue, such as an inability to recover from tiredness. In addition, 62.5% felt stressed and 55.3% were concerned about their health. These figures are the same level as the previous survey in 2013.

Around 80% of the respondents had an experience of making or nearly making a medical error. Nearly 75% said that they often think about giving up their careers, mainly because “the workload is too heavy due to labor shortages”.

The percentage of the respondents having health problems was 32.8%, 16.8 percentage points higher than that of female workers in all industries who are in bad health. Regarding maternity questions, 50% of the respondents had to keep working the night shift even after becoming pregnant and 40% experienced miscarriages.

Of nurses working at hospitals with a three-shift work schedule, 36.7% worked the night shift nine times a month or more. Of workers at medical facilities using a two-shift work system, 47.3% worked the night shift five times a month or more. Among nurses working on a shift work schedule, 90% worked overtime.

Iroren is urging the government to establish rules to reduce working hours of nurses on a shift-work system, especially for ones on the night shift, and the introduction of a sufficient interval between one shift and the next. The union also demands government measures to eliminate labor shortages and increase health care workers’ wages.

Past related articles:
> Iroren holds international symposium focusing on nurses working night shifts [September 7 & 8, 2016]
> More than 70% of nurses consider resigning due to chronic fatigue: union survey [February 4, 2014]