A nurse who left the profession due to burnout and persistent staff shortages has revealed that some in the industry have turned to sex work because it pays far better and they get fewer problems from clients.
Amy Halvorsen, 34, was on the frontline of the Covid outbreak, serving in the neurology and trauma department at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital, but left two years ago.
She is now speaking out about the worsening conditions that led to her leaving, including abusive patients and senior management who only offered ‘scripted rhetoric’ when she complained.
Shockingly, some of the 75,000 Australian nurses who have left the profession in the past two years are now operating as sex workers, with Ms Halvorsen comparing the two jobs on The project Sunday evening.
‘You’re dealing with multiple people spitting at you and different bodily fluids and exposure and infection risks. You have to be educated, knowledgeable (and) professional,’ she explained.
Amy Halvorsen (pictured) is a nurse who left the profession due to burnout and ongoing staff shortages
‘I’ve had people say to me, I only deal with one man, one body fluid, totally safe, screened, no abuse, totally adored and I make a week’s wages in a day.
“You have to consider what these people are exposed to in the healthcare system. Why shouldn’t they go off 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 1-year degree and is entering 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 and really just do anything. It was a big factor I pushed when I left and mentioned it to a lot of hospital management that we are not uneducated.’
Other nurses who have left have become baristas, firefighters and one even became a goat farmer.
“During the pandemic, it was probably the worst abuse I’ve seen,” said ICU nurse Julie Butterworth.
‘It would be stressed family members or stressed or sick, delirious or psychotic patients and they want to take it out on you.’
Ms Butterworth said nurses are also abused by colleagues. ‘I have been subjected to abuse from senior doctors. They’re obviously dealing with high-stress scenarios themselves, but they can take that abuse out of you.’
Dr. Kylie Ward, chief executive of the Australian College of Nursing, said “nurses experience more occupational violence than police officers and prison officers…
“If we don’t wake up and act, we’re headed for a crisis … If we don’t have enough registered nurses delivering care, it’s well-studied and documented that the patient experience and patient journey is affected,” she said.
‘There should not be a politician who could sleep tonight knowing that nursing is not valued and that we are heading for a crisis.’
A qualified nurse in 2017, Ms Halvorsen was on the frontline of the Covid outbreak, serving in the neurology and trauma department at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital
Mrs Halvorsen agreed and said a shortage of nurses was a key problem and would lead to poor outcomes for patients.
‘Nurses are the backbone of the hospital. Being understaffed means there are patients who don’t have the people to care for them who should be, she said.
“(With) something as simple as going to the bathroom, a confused patient can hit their head, get an injury, and that happened in our department because of understaffing, because of all these kinds of things, harmful outcomes happen.
‘And I really think people need to be aware of why (it’s happening).’
In an earlier interview with Daily Mail Australia, Halvorsen said conditions were so bad that there were rarely breaks and nurses had to rely on staff to see their patients just to go to the bathroom.
Mrs 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 just see numbers and measures and percentages, not what the health care workers are going through,” she said.
“They brought in inexperienced nurses to look after brain surgery patients. It’s dangerous.
‘You are already frustrated, exhausted and overworked, and then you have to help train another nurse. The whole support system was falling apart.’