Tallinn hospitals drop 24-hour shifts, worrying nurses
Two Tallinn hospitals that are abandoning 24-hour shifts for patient safety reasons face discontent from nurses and care workers. The Estonian Nurses Union warns that shorter shifts could cause staff shortages elsewhere.
Two major hospitals in Tallinn, Estonia's capital — West Tallinn Central Hospital and the North Estonia Medical Center (PERH) — will no longer let nurses and care workers work 24-hour shifts. The hospitals cite patient safety. The decision is unpopular among staff, and the Estonian Nurses Union says the new rules make it harder to take extra shifts at other workplaces.
PERH's director of nursing, Katre Zirel, said studies confirm that employees grow tired after eight hours of very intensive work, and that mistakes occur when shifts stretch to 24 hours.
Staff discontent
One PERH care worker, a single mother, wrote that what bothers her most is the hospital's lack of interest in how the new schedule suits employees. Travelling to work four or five times a week costs more time and money. She is also upset that doctors may continue working 24-hour shifts.
A midwife at West Tallinn Central Hospital said she is being forced to look for another job because shorter shifts are hard to manage in a family where both parents work in medicine. Kindergartens are also not open until late in the evening.
The union's warning
Union head Kätlin Lillemaa supports shortening shifts, but says the reasons 24-hour shifts were introduced must be addressed. According to her, nurses point out that consecutive 12-hour shifts are also exhausting, and getting home at night can be difficult because public transport runs on a limited schedule.
She described working at several workplaces as the most pressing problem: one in five nurses takes shifts at more than one place. Moving to shorter days would leave the second workplace short of helping hands, and the workload of those who remain would rise significantly. Smaller hospitals, she said, may be unable to cover all shifts.
East Tallinn continues
East Tallinn Central Hospital is continuing with 24-hour shifts, and nurses' interest in working there has increased slightly. Its head of nursing, Kätlin Pallo, said the issue is not new: shifts have been reduced or eliminated before, but institutions returned to earlier arrangements, often because of an evident shortage of healthcare workers. She added that standardized rules could apply across Estonia, but that would require an agreement between hospitals.
