The great nursing brain drain and its effects on patient safety

Alexandra Peters; Rafael Palomo; Didier Pittet

doi:10.1186/s13756-020-00719-4

The great nursing brain drain and its effects on patient safety

Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2020 Apr 30;9(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s13756-020-00719-4.

Authors

Alexandra Peters¹, Rafael Palomo², Didier Pittet³

Affiliations

¹ Infection Control Programme, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
² University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
³ Infection Control Programme, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland. didier.pittet@hcuge.ch.

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared 2020 the "Year of the Nurse and Midwife". On May 5th of this year, for the annual celebration of the SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign, the WHO will focus on the critical role of nurses and midwives in promoting public health. The brain drain of healthcare workers (HCWs) leads to unequal distribution of nurses and midwives around the world, which affects the quality of care provided to patients. This phenomenon should be addressed as a global problem as it highlights staff shortages in the health system.

Keywords: Hand hygiene; Infection control; Infection prevention and control; Midwives; Nurses; World Health Organization.

Publication types

Editorial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Communicable Disease Control / organization & administration*
Hand Hygiene / methods*
Hand Hygiene / organization & administration
Health Promotion / organization & administration*
Humans
Nurse's Role
Patient Safety
Public Health
World Health Organization