The keepers of the nation's health are battling a medical crisis of their own. A study into the well-being of nurses has found many are suffering from musculoskeletal conditions, obesity and mental health problems.
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Overall, they rate their own health as somewhere between ''poor'' and ''average''.
The Southern Cross University survey of almost 5500 nurses throughout the country also found they were a rapidly ageing workforce. About 40 per cent of nurses are aged 50 and over.
The situation is so dire that study author Kay Ross has warned that the coming generation of elderly and infirm may not have anyone to look after them. ''In 10 to 15 years, we won't have nurses to look after us,'' she said. ''So many nurses are already in their 40s and 50s. We don't have the numbers coming up through the ranks to take [their] places.''
Karin Tilden, 58, has been a nurse since she was 17, and recently had a knee replacement. She has also developed back problems.
''They said to me, 'You've got the back of a bricklayer','' said Mrs Tilden, who works in a hospital emergency ward.
Nurses lead unhealthy lives partly due to shift work - which encouraged a poor diet of junk food and little exercise - and stress, she said. ''Unfortunately, we can preach all the right things to do, but we're really not good at doing it ourselves. We are caregivers, not care takers.''
The study found 30 per cent of Australia's 320,000 nurses had a chronic illness and half of those required time off work in the year before the survey. The most common conditions reported were musculoskeletal - such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and back problems - followed by obesity and mental health afflictions.
While the number of diabetic nurses was on par with the general population, 35 per cent were at a high risk of developing the disease in the next five years.
More than 10 per cent reported consuming more than two standard alcoholic drinks a day and 9 per cent were daily smokers.
More than half felt that stress affected their health and 46 per cent said weight management was a problem.
''Working shift work means nurses are there 24/7,'' Ms Ross said. ''In the middle of the night when they go for something to eat or drink, you go to the vending machine and it's only chocolate.
''They get home at midnight; they're not going to sit down and cook a healthy meal.''
Ms Ross said nurses needed better access to healthy food and gyms in their workplaces.
''We need to look after the nurses we've got so that they aren't as stressed, they actually do have a meal break during their shifts, [and] they aren't expected to just stay [back] because there's not enough staff.''
