The Generation Gap Among Nurses in Poland: Its Causes and Outlook for Change

Abstract

According to a study on the number of registered and employed nurses and midwives up to the year 2030, the number of nurses with retirement pension rights will systematically increase. The mean age of nurses working in the healthcare system will also increase as there will be no generational renewal in nursing staff. The reason for this is an excessive difference (more than 100,000) between the number of nurses with retirement pension rights and the number of qualified nursing graduates. The consequence of this will be a decrease in the number of nurses per 1,000 Polish inhabitants, an indicator that is already very low—5.2 according to OECD data for 2016. A remedy for this situation could be encouraging nurses to take up their profession again by offering them higher, guaranteed salaries, increasing the number of vacancies in nursing undergraduate programs, offering nurses employment contracts, and encouraging nursing graduates to pursue their professional careers. The aim of this article is to discuss issues related to the generation gap among nursing staff as well as actions taken to increase the number of nurses in Poland. The article is based on Polish topical literature, legal acts, and strategies prepared by the Main Chamber of Nurses and Midwives. It is based on desk research analysis.