Australian data summary · October 2026

Unsafe, unsupported, tired

What 43 Australian nurses told the MACH Health app about their bodies, their shifts and whether they will stay. May 2025 to January 2026.

Cohort	43 Australian nurses, mostly joining through The Nurse Collective, with no employer deployment. Internal, test and overseas accounts excluded.
Data	90 Daily Check-Ins from 21 nurses; Baseline Wellbeing survey from 26 nurses (23 completed it in full)
Unsafe care	82.6% unable to deliver safe care at least once in the past month; median 5 episodes; 177 episodes across 23 nurses
Staffing	Median unsafe-care episodes: 0.5 where staffing was adequate, 5 partly adequate, 10 inadequate
Intent to leave	56.5% considered leaving their role in the past month due to work pressure
Recovery	Not enough rest between shifts: 61.5% of those considering leaving vs 10% of those not
Lost shifts	56.5% called in sick or left early due to exhaustion in the past 30 days
Physical state	45.6% of check-ins started physically depleted; physical was the lowest domain (2.7 / 5)
Age	Considered leaving: 33% under 35, 60% aged 35 to 49, 71% aged 50 and over

Why it matters

Australia faces a projected undersupply of 70,707 full-time equivalent nurses by 2035 (Nursing Supply and Demand Study 2023–2035). Retention is measured once a year at best. The Daily Check-In gives a running read of physical, emotional, sleep and nutritional state before each shift, alongside a monthly survey of the workforce indicators employers care about.

Key findings

The body goes first. Physical was the lowest of the four domains; 45.6% of check-ins began "a bit tired" or "exhausted".
Unsafe care is routine, not rare, and it tracks staffing.
Recovery separates those thinking of leaving. Rest between shifts was the largest difference between nurses considering leaving and those staying (mean 2.31 vs 3.8 out of 5). Confidence in their clinical ability did not differ.
Less rest goes with more unsafe care, the strongest association in the survey.
Experienced nurses are most at risk. Intent to leave rose with age and physical scores fell.
In their own words, "tired" was the most common word. Every response including "unsafe" or "dangerous" came from a nurse who had considered leaving.

What an employer would gain

A daily physical-state signal
A safety signal linked to staffing, by ward and month
A retention signal that rostering can influence
A focus on experienced staff

Limitations

A small, self-selected group of nurses who chose to download a health app, so likely more depleted than the average nurse. Findings describe this group, not Australian nursing. Survey links are associations, not causes, and counts are self-reported over 30 days. This is an internal analysis paper and has not been peer reviewed.

Next step

An employer deployment with an aged care provider or regional health service: MACH Health built into every shift, recovery measured directly, and unsafe care tracked by ward and month alongside staffing.