Nurses’ safety and wellbeing

As we lead up to International Nurses Day in 2025, it is important to not only celebrate and thank nurses, but also to acknowledge the challenges that nurses and the nursing profession face.

International Nurses Day, observed annually on May 12, is an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of nurses worldwide who are essential to patient care delivery across the lifespan and the care continuum. 

Caring for nurses strengthens economies

The theme for International Nurses Day in 2025 is: "Our Nurses. Our Future. Caring for nurses strengthens economies". This theme builds on the previous theme, “Our Nurses. Our Future. The economic power of care.”

The theme in 2025 highlights that investing in the health and wellbeing of nurses is fundamental for robust global health systems and contributes positively to economies. It recognises that nurses encounter numerous challenges, including those that affect their physical, mental, and emotional health. Addressing these challenges is imperative for their overall wellbeing.

Prioritising the wellbeing of nurses through targeted support, evidence-based interventions, and investment in their profession ensures they can continue providing the high-quality care that is critical to global health. Investing in nurses is investing in the foundation of health care systems.

Global nursing shortfall

The World Health Organization estimates a global shortfall of almost 5 million nurses and midwives by 2030. Retaining nurses becomes increasingly important as the world’s population lives longer and drives the nursing shortage. Increasing retention of nurses has the potential to reduce operating costs and enhance quality of nursing care, however, 30% of newly graduated nurses, aged 23 to 26 years, leave their positions within one year, and 57% leave within 2 years.

High turnover is linked to general factors such as stress, burnout, patient safety concerns, and heavy workload, suggesting that improving the work environment and leadership support are key strategies for retention across generations, however tailored retention strategies are needed. Millennial nurses, who comprise about one-third of the workforce, have higher levels of burnout and emotional exhaustion compared to other generations. International nursing students and new graduates also face a stressful transition to the workforce and may encounter additional difficulties such as language barriers, lack of personal support, or even discrimination.

Nurse burnout

Burnout and occupational stress are pervasive problems. Burnout is defined as a response to chronic work-related stress, and involves emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation (detachment), and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment. High rates of burnout are reported by healthcare professionals, especially in emergency departments and sub-Saharan Africa, where nurses often work in under-resourced environments with heavy burdens of disease. High occupational stress and burnout are detrimental not only to the nurse but also to patient safety and organisational efficiency. Addressing staffing shortages, ensuring adequate resources, providing competitive compensation, and fostering supportive environments are critical. 

Organisational interventions are needed to acknowledge and address burnout as an occupational hazard, not a personal failure.

Workplace violence against nurses

Nurses are at high risk of exposure to workplace violence by patients, their family, or visitors. This includes verbal, physical, sexual, or racial aggression. Up to 38% of healthcare professionals suffer physical violence at some point in their careers. 

Workplace violence against nurses constitutes a healthcare crisis. 

Workplace violence against nurses has been rising globally, with studies reporting that over 60% of nurses experience verbal or physical abuse during their careers, leading to increased burnout, job dissatisfaction, and staff turnover.

Nursing students are particularly vulnerable to workplace violence during clinical placements. This is because they are often inexperienced, have limited skill sets, are young, and are in a dependent relationship within the clinical setting. They may also fear academic repercussions or retaliation from perpetrators if they report incidents, adding disincentives to speaking up. Workplace violence impacts students' physical and mental health, can compromise their learning, increase anxiety, and lead them to question their career choice or leave the profession.

Nurse-led research for change

Addressing these issues is critical, because the wellbeing of nurses is deeply connected to the performance of health systems and the quality of patient care. High stress and turnover negatively affect patient outcomes, productivity, and absenteeism. Supporting nurses is therefore essential for building resilient health care systems and ensuring better care for communities.

Change is happening. Evidence-based, tailored approaches focusing on the work environment and the relationship between leadership and bedside nurses are essential for the well-being and retention of nurses. Nurse-led research is providing the evidence, and nurse-led initiatives are implementing the evidence.

In the week leading up to International Nurses Day JBI is spotlighting systematic reviews and scoping reviews published in the peer-review journal, JBI Evidence Synthesis, that focus on addressing nurse retention, reducing occupational stress and burnout and preventing and managing violence directed at nursing staff. 

Nurse retention research

Some of the published articles dedicated to identifying and implementing evidence-based retention strategies include Individual and environmental factors that influence longevity of newcomers to nursing and midwifery and Retention strategies and barriers for millennial nurses.

A number of articles focus on specific interventions to help with nurse retention. These include papers on establishing nurse residency programs, and the experiences of  student nurses in bridging programs. Nurse residency programs are structured partnerships between health organisations and academia that ease new graduates’ transition, aimed at improving retention and safety.

Caring for nursing students, prior to their entering the workforce, is a natural extension of the 2025 theme for International Nurses Day. A scoping review published in the May 2025 issue of JBI Evidence Synthesis, Factors that influence international nursing students’ experiences and perceptions of their learning environments, mapped the factors that influence international nursing student's experiences and perceptions of their learning environments. International nursing students contribute to their host countries in many ways, yet they often encounter challenges such a language barriers, social isolation, and discrimination during their programs. Students report that strategies such as language and cultural integration, mentorship, and peer support networks can facilitate their adjustment. 

In an accompanying editorial, the authors of this review highlight the benefits of investing in international nursing students, which is, in turn, an investment in the future of healthcare.

Mentorship, particularly for new graduates and in specialties such as gerontology, has also been highlighted as essential for nurturing the next generation of nurses and retaining experienced staff. 

Other papers focus on reducing the issues that contribute to occupational stress and burnout, for example, managing workplace violence against healthcare workers

JBI will be featuring systemic reviews that support the International Nurses Day theme in 2025 across social media. 

Follow us at @JBIEBHC on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and @jbiebhc.bsky.social on Blue Sky.

We extend our gratitude to every nurse, student, nurse educator, nurse researcher and mentor who contributes to our health systems with compassion, skill and resilience. Thank you to those who research, lead, implement and practice the evidence‑based innovations that protect and empower your profession. Your work secures a healthier future for us all.