Protest with energy drinks against nurses' workload
Birlik Sağlık Sen İzmir Branch President Mahmut Oğuz drew attention to the heavy workload of nurses at the İzmir City Hospital in Bayraklı. Stating that 3 nurses assigned to work alongside 5 doctors in observation rooms are responsible for approximately 60 people, including patients and their relatives, at any given moment, Oğuz said, "We are distributing energy drinks to support our colleagues who are crushed under an excessive workload."
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The Birlik Sağlık Union did not remain silent regarding the excessive workload of nurses at İzmir City Hospital. Birlik Sağlık Sen İzmir Branch President Mahmut Oğuz drew attention to the problems that will arise from a workload far beyond human limits due to staff shortages, stating that both the risk of an increased margin of error and the risk of confrontation between patients and healthcare workers are rising.
“EXCESSIVE INTENSITY CAN EVEN LEAD TO ERRORS”
Expressing the patient density with figures, Oğuz said, “The average number of adult emergency room patients, which was approximately 750 in July, has reached an average of 1,400 patients these days, creating a great intensity. While our colleagues working here take care of each of our patients with diligence, long queues form due to their insufficient numbers. Especially in the yellow zone observation rooms, our nurse colleagues are responsible for 55-60 of our citizens at the same time, including patients and their relatives. In the observation room, our three nurse colleagues working alongside five doctors are struggling to even meet their basic needs, working without rest. Especially during night hours, fatigue reaches its peak among our colleagues. Our biggest fear is that this situation will lead to malpractice errors,” he said.
“IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN, THERE IS A RISK OF VIOLENCE IN HEALTHCARE!”
Stating that the experienced intensity could lead to violence in healthcare, Oğuz continued as follows:
“Problems arise with our citizens due to waiting in line at points where there is an excessive workload. It is clear that this situation is prone to negative incidents if precautions are not taken. It is not correct or appropriate for three nurses to work in an area where five doctors are working. The fact that nurses have to go to get medication and the delays in intra-unit patient transfers due to the insufficiency of company personnel further increase the workload. Personnel shortages are at a peak throughout our province; in this process, increasing the number of daily on-duty staff through overtime or other assignments appears to be a temporary solution until ministry appointments are made.”
PROTEST WITH ENERGY DRINKS
Birlik Sağlık Sen İzmir Branch President Mahmut Oğuz used the following expressions: “Our nurse colleagues on duty in the area take our patients receiving oxygen therapy in the observation rooms to the analysis units, and they also provide narcotic drug supplies by going to and from the pharmacy themselves. We think that our colleagues, who are crushed under an excessive workload, need energy drinks to be able to work more without rest, and we are protesting their working conditions with energy drinks.”