“Nursing has been an integral part of my whole life,” says Natalia Chikovani, a nurse working in a private clinic in Tbilisi, Georgia. Natalia, now 32, talks about the challenges of nursing in her country. She studied nursing at a vocational school but says she acquired most of her knowledge through practice.
“During my 13 years of nursing in private clinics, I have had a number of trainings, and nothing compares to real field experience,” she shares. “I owe my skills to my colleagues and supervisors who have trained me over the years.”
Being a nurse “can be an everyday battle”
Natalia says that the shortage of nurses can be a real challenge.
“For a while now, very few young people have been choosing nursing as a profession, and this means that we have fewer and fewer new nurses at work.”
Many countries do not produce enough nurse graduates to meet the demands of their populations. Natalia says that one of the reasons behind this shortage is that nursing is not valued enough as a profession.
“I have suffered from societal and cultural stigmas, with people sometimes saying, ‘she didn’t manage to become a doctor, so she chose nursing instead’. But people don’t realize that these are 2 very different professions. So, sometimes our work can be an everyday battle.”
Low salaries mean that nurses find it hard to make ends meet. Many of Natalia’s colleagues have to work overtime or in multiple clinics to earn a living. This, she says, has led to lower capacity and can negatively impact the quality of services that nurses provide.
“I think we need more investment in education, training, infrastructure and better wages,” she adds. “This and an adequate working environment are key to preventing the workforce from leaving to more developed countries.”
An outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic is that nursing has been brought into the spotlight, making the profession more visible in modern medicine, Natalia says.
“Many people around us have started noticing the crucial role we play in saving human lives.”
Investing in nurses’ education, training and leadership
The number of nurses in Georgia is lower than the average in the WHO European Region.
While the average ratio of physicians to nurses in the Region is 2.3, in Georgia this number hasn’t exceeded 0.8 since 2014. This means that there is fewer than one nurse per doctor, and in Georgia’s mountainous areas the shortage is even more acute.
“The government should consider investing in nurses’ education and training,” says Maia Gogashvili, Head of the Nursing Department at the University of Georgia, one of the few schools providing bachelor’s degrees in nursing in Georgia.
“I fear that the low number of young people joining our programme can have dire consequences for Georgia’s health care system,” adds Maia. “One measure could be to require minimum wages for nurses and a nurse-to-patient ratio in both public and private clinics.”
Investing in nurses and promoting their autonomy under the law can lead to stronger primary health care and better services for the population, Maia adds.
“This will be critical to avert a severe crisis, create sustainable jobs and attract the next generation of nurses.”
The year 2021 was designated by WHO as the International Year of Health and Care Workers. On this Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day, which falls every year on 12 December, WHO/Europe is shining a spotlight on all health and care workers, with a call for governments to protect and invest in the workforce.
Investing in education, jobs, service delivery and the leadership of nurses is backed by the ‘Roadmap to guide implementation of the Global Strategic Directions on Nursing and Midwifery in the WHO European Region (2021–2025)’, in line with UHC and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
------------------------------------------------------
The content of this article was amended on 22 December 2021 because an earlier version incorrectly referred to the ‘Free University’ when the ‘University of Georgia’ was meant.