Italy faces healthcare workforce crisis as burnout rises and nurse shortage deepens

A recent review highlights that burnout is widespread among Italian medical staff, with ICU doctors and nurses showing prevalence around 40% and higher rates during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Key drivers include chronic overload, insufficient staffing, bureaucratic burdens such as electronic health records, limited autonomy, and poor leadership. Effective solutions require both organizational changes—better staffing ratios, streamlined processes and supportive climate—and individual interventions like coaching and mindfulness.

A separate study by Eurispes points to a structural labour‑market inefficiency behind the acute shortage of nurses in Italy. The country has only 6.9 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, well below the EU average of 8.9. Low wages (average €32,400 versus €39,800 OECD average), an ageing workforce and significant emigration to the UK and Switzerland exacerbate the gap. Regional disparities are stark, ranging from 86.2 nurses per 10,000 residents in Lazio to 52.2 in Campania. Emergency measures added nearly 20,000 nurses through derogatory admission procedures, but the report stresses that simply increasing training slots will not solve the problem without reforms to work organization and employment conditions.