Greek Nursing under Austerity

Introduction: In the past year increasing concern has been expressed on the financial austerity measures imposed on Greece and its effect on public hospital patient care. The influence of this hardship on nursing delivery care is evident as even prior to this poor staff patient ratios caused shortcuts in care practice in order to save staff time. Aim: The aim of this discussion paper is to critically examine the implications of austerity measures imposed on the Greek health care system with particular emphasis on its effect on nursing and care delivery. Method: The aim was achieved through deploying five key parameters, which describe current nursing in Greece, namely: Nursing in austerity times, Nursing delivery care, Clinical nursing, Nursing rehabilitation and Policy implications. Findings-Discussion: Clinical nursing skills can be often reduced to meet basic patient needs with nurses becoming more dependent on family and carers to take on simple routine nursing skills such as bathing and help with feeding. Within the public hospitals many nurses accept that the highly dependent patient may employ a private nurse. Also, the challenge of rehabilitation care has become more precarious. Therefore, there is a great need for restructuring health care, especially in the primary care sector such as home help, localized community care, brief hospital discharge support, home safety checks and other focused services. Conclusions: Careful consideration of the effects of austerity must now be given in order to avoid a widespread health care crisis in Greece.