International Nurses Day (12 May, 2022)

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on health, life, and livelihoods in the Region of the Americas, causing a social and economic crisis marked by massive unemployment, impoverishment, and the worsening of longstanding inequities. The pandemic also exposed chronic underinvestment in human resources for health and the lack of systems with information on the deployment, makeup, and attributes of interprofessional health teams.

As health systems have expanded, countries have found it difficult to hire, deploy, protect, and retain health workers, including psychosocial support for frontline workers

In 2021, WHO adopted the document Global Strategic Directions on Nursing and Midwifery 2021–2025, covering four key policy areas: education, jobs, leadership, and service delivery. Its recommendations include: 1) educate enough midwives and nurses with competencies to meet population health needs; 2) create jobs, manage migration, and recruit and retain midwives and nurses where they are most needed; 3) strengthen nursing and midwifery leadership throughout health and academic systems; and ensure that these staff are supported, respected, protected, motivated, and equipped to safely and optimally contribute in their service delivery settings.

In the Region of the Americas, nurses and midwives play an essential role in achieving health outcomes thanks to their experience, workforce size, and outreach in remote areas and among vulnerable populations and minority groups. However, challenges persist, such as scarcity (especially in remote areas), constant and increasing migration, unsafe and indecent working conditions, non-competitive wages, and lack of compliance or professional regulations.

In celebration of International Nurses Day (12 May 2022), PAHO calls for collectively strengthening the nursing workforce.

Messages to National authorities and policy makers

Investments in training and employing nurses are cost-effective.

Globally, 70% of the health and social workforce are women. Let’s empower and promote their leadership so they may achieve equitable, dignified, and decent work.

The Region of the Americas faces a shortage of health workers, especially nurses. Investment in training and more jobs will improve availability. Labor policies will help to protect these workers, improving working conditions and retaining them in service.

Health workers are key to resilient health systems. We must protect and invest in them in order to have more professionals and improve working conditions.

Educational spaces and clinical practice should be reviewed and regulated to ensure that future nursing professionals are qualified to take on greater responsibilities in the workplace.

Working conditions and tax incentives must be analyzed and improved to increase hiring and retention of nursing professionals.

Nursing is an essential profession in health services.

Facts

There are approximately nine million nursing professionals in the Region of the Americas, representing more than 56% of human resources for health.

The Region of the Americas remains one of the most unequal globally, with millions of people lacking access to comprehensive health services, including preventive and palliative care.

Nursing education systems across countries are dissimilar across the Region of the Americas, with inconsistencies ranging from competencies of trained professionals, curriculum structure and revision, and teaching qualifications.

The lack of teachers with advanced training and the poor distribution of educational programs at the graduate level present a significant barrier to adequately preparing the next generation of nurses and expanding their role, especially in primary care services.

Defining the role of advanced practice nurses in Latin America is still in the early stages.

The Region of the Americas is experiencing a critical shortage of nurses, with low retention rates and high turnover.

79% of the Member States of the Region have head nurse positions in their Ministries of Health, but only 46% have effectively implemented nursing leadership training programs.