Abstract
Editor,
I came across a recent article published in this journal regarding the ‘quiet quitting’ phenomenon among healthcare workers. Quiet quitting is an insidious manifestation of burnout demonstrated by individuals who do not have the option to leave their jobs and, hence, remain in their current positions while holding disengaged attitudes. The authors suggested potential strategies to address the problem: mitigation of clinical workload, prioritisation of their well-being and mental health and adequate opportunities for post-graduate training. 1 I firmly support these strategies and assert that they are tailored to the plight of nurses in the Philippines. With this, I aim to put flesh on a particular setting where these strategies come from and make a call to action for the government and other involved institutions.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed a serious challenge to Filipino nurses. Their clinical workload has overburdened them, with some working for almost 15 hours per shift and taking care of as many as 30 patients because other nurses quit or got sick. Their mental health also suffered, where some of them had high perceived stress levels and compassion fatigue (CF). CF refers to complete physical and psycho-emotional exhaustion from nurturing patients, chronic exposure to patients’ suffering, personal and work-related stressors and a lack of self-care. 2 Lastly, nurses had limited educational opportunities for adequate training, professional autonomy, career development and advanced nursing practices. In a recent survey of 330 Filipino nurses, they perceived themselves as less competent in public health science, financial planning and management. 3 They expressed the need for capacity-building training programmes to address future challenges.
The unfortunate situation may worsen if such interventions are not implemented. They are essential in boosting the morale of Filipino nurses to revitalise their behavior at work, thus continuously rendering their service to everyone unconditionally.