7 out of 10 have considered quitting

Nora Lyngstad (26) graduated as a bioengineer from NTNU in Trondheim in 2020. Already a short time later, she decided to further her education in something completely different.

– Working as a bioengineer is characterized by routine, and you work more closely with the instruments than the people. This probably didn’t quite suit me. Although the environment was good, the pay was low, and when the tasks were not entirely to my liking, there were not many incentives to continue.

According to a survey carried out by the Norwegian Engineering and Technology Organisation, NITO, 70 per cent of their bioengineers at Norwegian hospitals have considered quitting.

– Catastrophic consequences

– Professional development and salary are not in line with the workload. There is already a labor shortage, and the shortage is only getting bigger.

That’s what Kaja Marienborg says. She has a degree in bioengineering, and is chairman of the subject board at Nito’s Institute of Bioengineering, in addition to working as a university lecturer at Oslo Met.

Nobody stopped: – Absolutely terrible

Marienborg emphasizes the importance of the work a bioengineer does.

– We are often the first to make a diagnosis. It is a big responsibility for the health of others. We have people’s lives and deaths on our shoulders, and if you do something wrong then, it can have catastrophic consequences.

– Risk of error

Marienborg believes that both politicians and managers in the healthcare system must now take responsibility and ensure that the educational capacity for bioengineers and a more viable salary are increased. Better provision must also be made for further and further education within the subject

New plan for the midwifery crisis

– If nothing is done, the consequences can be, among other things, a longer waiting time for test answers and a greater risk of mistakes being made as a result of the work pressure, says Marienborg.

Read what the Ministry of Health and Care Services says at the bottom of the case.

Basic staffing in the healthcare system is kept too low, she believes.

– It has happened as a result of the cuts in the healthcare system over many years. The situation is very vulnerable to illness, and makes the workload far too high. This in turn leads to further sickness absence, says Marienborg, and adds that the situation applies to a great many occupational groups in the health sector.

– Gets pretty pissed off

– What sets us apart from some others in the healthcare system is that we do not have the opportunity to have unskilled substitutes. We must have worked for three months to three years to be professionally trained, in addition to the education course.

The consequences will also be that the healthcare system will continue to leak personnel to the private sector, Marienborg believes. It worries her.

– Bioengineers are also attractive outside the health sector. At the same time, the wage level in, for example, the oil and fishing industries is completely different. It creates enormous challenges at the hospital, because we already have so few bioengineers. It’s already a huge problem, and it’s getting bigger and bigger.

Mission: Reduce the health queues

– Very sad

Nora Lyngstad says that through her years as a bioengineer she noticed how pressured staffing can be.

– I have worked in departments that have been well staffed, with committed and driven employees. But I have also been in situations where there have been sick calls and too much to do. I have experienced that people have been very tired and that they have not experienced being seen and heard, she says.

Lyngstad also has the impression that it is difficult to get a permanent job in some places. Temporary positions are advertised instead of 100 percent positions, she says.

The working conditions, in combination with insufficient pay, she believes are decisive for many looking for something else to do.

– It is very sad, because I have met many talented people who are passionate about the subject and the profession. Then it’s a shame if they choose to quit.

In addition, Lyngstad believes that part of the reason may be that people simply do not know what the profession entails when they start their education.

Sounding the nurse alarm: – Terrifying

Lyngstad currently works as a consultant in the consulting company Trifid, after taking a master’s degree in entrepreneurship and innovation management at the University of Oslo (UiO).

She estimates that around 50 per cent of her study group have remained in the health sector, while the other half have done something similar to what she herself has chosen to do.

– Raised high

State Secretary Karl Kristian Bekeng in the Ministry of Health and Welfare says that they share Nito’s commitment.

– We need the entire team of good professionals in the service if we are to reduce waiting times and strengthen the quality of the health service. This is an important task for the government, and a matter that is raised high in the National Health and Cooperation Plan.

Bekeng further says that the government will contribute with both frameworks and prerequisites to ensure that those who work in the health service have good working conditions and working conditions.

At the same time, the government has a requirement that hospitals and municipal health services look after their employees. Among other things, by balancing the workload, he says.

Bekeng adds that wages and working conditions are negotiated between the individual employee and employer or the employees’ organizations and employers’ organizations.