Abstract
In rural and remote areas of Japan, the issue of medical doctors working long working is known, but there is no survey on the working status of nurses.
This study aimed to clarify the nursing employment situation and nurses’ working style at clinics in rural and remote areas to consider the challenges of nurses there.
All clinics in rural areas in Japan were targeted. A request for cooperation with the research was sent to all 1,038 clinics in rural areas in Japan. The participants in this survey were 509 nurses from 378 clinics; 231 responses were valid (61.1%). About 80% of participants were over 40 years of age with more than 10 years of clinical experience. In addition to daytime work, they were also tasked with night shifts. About 17% of nurses worked overtime for 60 minutes or more per day. Over 80% of nurses thought that the job was rewarding, but about 60% were concerned about employee turnover. Indeed, only half acquired annual leave for more than 10 days while others did not.
In conclusion, there are two challenges facing nurses at clinics in rural and remote areas. Some nurses cannot take paid holidays, and some nurses are dissatisfied with their work. It is necessary to conduct further surveys to clarify the contents of nurses’ work as these two challenges are affected by their work contents and have not been clarified.
