A nurse who left the profession due to burnout and persistent staff shortages has revealed that some in the sector have turned to sex work because it pays much better and they face fewer problems from clients.
Amy Halvorsen, 34, was on the front line of the Covid outbreak, serving in the neurology and trauma unit at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital, but left two years ago.
She is now speaking out about the deteriorating conditions that led to her departure, including patient abuse and senior management offering only “scripted rhetoric” when she complained.
Shockingly, some of the 75,000 Australian nurses who left the profession in the past two years are now working as sex workers, with Ms Halvorsen comparing the two jobs on The project Sunday night.
“You’re dealing with multiple people spitting at you and different body fluids and exposure and infection risks. You have to be educated and knowledgeable (and) professional,” she explained.
Amy Halvorsen (pictured) is a nurse who left the profession due to burnout and persistent staff shortages
‘People said to me: I only deal with one man, one body fluid, completely safe, screened, no abuse, completely adored and I earn a week’s wages in a day.
‘You have to consider what these people in healthcare are exposed to. Why wouldn’t they go away and do something else?’
She said many of the nurses who have left are very unhappy with their pay.
“If you look at a first-year nurse who has completed a three-year degree and is heading into a career for the rest of their life, they start at about $35 an hour.
‘There are Aldi stores that offer people the same amount.
‘So nurses can go away and do basically anything. That was a big factor that I pushed for when I left and told a lot of hospital administrators that we are not uneducated.”
Other nurses who have left have become baristas and firefighters, and one even became a goat farmer.
“During the pandemic, this was probably the worst abuse I’ve seen,” said ICU nurse Julie Butterworth.
‘They are stressed family members, or stressed or sick, delirious or psychotic patients and they like to take it out on you.’
Ms Butterworth said nurses are also being abused by colleagues. ‘I have been abused by experienced doctors. They obviously have to deal with stressful scenarios themselves, but they can take that abuse out on you.’
Dr. Kylie Ward, the CEO of the Australian College of Nursing, said: ‘Nurses experience more occupational violence than police officers and prison guards…
“If we don’t wake up and take action, we are heading towards a crisis… If we don’t have enough registered nurses delivering care, it is well researched and documented that patient experience and patient outcomes are affected,” she said.
“There shouldn’t be a politician who can sleep tonight knowing that nursing is not valued and that we are heading for a crisis.”
Ms Halvorsen was a registered nurse in 2017 and was on the frontline of the Covid outbreak, serving in the neurology and trauma unit at Westmead Hospital in Sydney
Ms Halvorsen agreed, saying a shortage of nurses was a key issue and would lead to poor outcomes for patients.
‘Nurses are the backbone of the hospital. Understaffing means there are patients who don’t have people to care for them,” she said.
‘(With) something as simple as walking to the toilet, a confused patient can hit his head and suffer an injury and that happened in our department due to understaffing. Bad consequences happen because of all these things.
“And I really think people need to be aware of why (that happens).”
In an earlier interview with Daily Mail Australia, Ms Halvorsen said conditions were so poor that breaks were rare and nurses had to rely on fellow staff to keep an eye on their patients just to go to the toilet.
Ms Halvorsen (pictured with her partner) said nurses are well trained and not paid enough
She raised the issue with hospital management, who told her that “they don’t see the same thing.”
“They only see numbers, targets and percentages, not what healthcare workers are going through,” she said.
“They brought in inexperienced nurses to care for brain surgery patients. It’s dangerous.
“You’re already frustrated, exhausted and overworked, and then you have to help train a nurse. The whole support system fell apart.”