Canada's nurses suffer significantly higher rates of workplace injuries, stress and chronic health conditions such as depression and high blood pressure than other workers do, according to a new report.

Ironically, that makes nursing one of the country's sickest professions.

The health woes seem to be linked to the work environment, including physical demands, violent and abusive patients, constant exposure to sharp objects and infectious diseases, excessive workloads, shift work and strained interpersonal relations in the beleaguered health sector.

"The bottom line is that looking after the health of Canadians has made a lot of nurses unhealthy," Lisa Little, senior nurse consultant at the Canadian Nurses Association, said in an interview.

"This is pretty troubling for nurses and it should be troubling for patients who depend on them for care."

Ms. Little was commenting on the new National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses, published yesterday by Statistics Canada. The 189-page report, the most thorough examination of the health of a specific profession in Canada, reveals that:

29 per cent of nurses were physically assaulted in the past year;

44 per cent were subjected to emotional abuse by patients or their family members;

48 per cent suffered a needle stick or other dangerous cut on the job;

37 per cent were injured so badly that they had to take time off work;

25 per cent suffer from chronic back problems;

9 per cent suffer from depression -- almost double the rate in the general population;

Nurses take an average of 24 sick days a year;

Those working shifts or nights have worse physical and mental health than those working days;

Nurses working in long-term-care facilities such as nursing homes suffer much higher rates of violence and illness than their hospital counterparts.

"A lot of what's in that report I see in my life," said Karen Carroll, a cardiac nurse who works at the General Hospital in St. John's. "I think a lot of nurses will relate to those numbers."

In her 24 years of nursing, Ms. Carroll has been seriously injured three times. In 1991, she suffered a shoulder injury while moving a patient and needed 12 weeks to heal. Then, a couple of years later, while doing another patient transfer, she suffered a serious recurrence that necessitated two years of rehab. Then, in 1997, the veteran nurse was assaulted by a patient suffering from alcohol withdrawal, resulting in facial and neck injuries requiring hospital treatment. Later, Ms. Carroll suffered a needle stick. Now she works in cardiac catheterization, where she must wear a lead apron to protect against exposure to radiation, which places strain on her neck and shoulders.

"I work in cardiac care, which is not what you would consider a high-risk area," she said. "It's not terribly uncommon for nurses to go through what I have, and a lot more."

Full Story: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061212.NURSE12/TPStory/National

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