Reporting and duty – carers are storming against corona duty

Nursing professionals, nurses and health professionals: All nursing professionals living in the canton of Graubünden who are no longer working in their profession and do not belong to a risk group must now report to the authorities. In a later phase, the specialists could be committed to an assignment. This is to ensure medical care in health and care facilities, writes the Graubünden government in a statement.

Trained nurses who no longer work in the profession sharply criticize the measure. For example MP *: “I was also a nurse, but luckily I quit before Corona.” As long as the nursing professions were paid so badly and you were treated so badly, you couldn’t get him to come back. “I’m certainly not the only one who thinks so,” says P. He considers compulsory service to be the wrong means: “I don’t want to be looked after by nursing staff who are forced to work.”

MG* (32) also no longer works as a trained health professional: “There are many who quit because of the pressure at work.” For example, the shift work, the constant, sometimes short-term shifts in the roster or the lack of staff cause problems for many. “If these people are forced to work in nursing again, it can end in a fiasco.” In addition, after a short absence, you no longer know the processes at work. “I know from my own experience that after two to three years in hospitals you are classified as ‘unusable’.”

At the Swiss Professional Association of Nursing Women and Nursing Specialists (SBK), the Graubünden government’s approach fails: “You saw the omicron wave coming, so you would have had time to choose a different approach than an obligation,” says Renate Rutishauser, President of the Graubünden Section. “The idea of ​​being forced to do something can trigger uncertainty and fears.” That already happened in 2020 when the canton of Graubünden made a similar appeal.

She understands that the canton is looking for a solution in the current situation in order to be able to recruit enough skilled workers, says Rutishauser. “But I would have supported it if he had advertised financial incentives and voluntary support from nurses.” How high this financial incentive should be should depend on the qualification and duration of the assignment. “The question also arises as to who should pay the employer for the loss if a trained nurse is required to work.”

Daniel Camenisch, Head of Communications Office for Coronavirus in the Canton of Graubünden, defends the obligation to report: “The measure is being taken because it can be assumed that the sharp increase in corona cases will push medical care to its limits.” In March 2020, around 1,000 people would have reported after a similar call. It is now again the responsibility of each individual to report, said Camenisch. Specialists who do not obey the call, however, face no consequences: “The focus is on coping with the pandemic, not on checking who actually reported.”

*Name known to editors