Almost half the nurses with a chronic illness had to take time off work in the previous 12 months because of their condition.
A survey of over 6000 nurses by Kay Ross and Dr Jennie Barr from Southern Cross University found musculoskeletal disease was the most common chronic illness, with stress being a major contributing factor.
Workplace bullying was a major cause of stress, along with the impact of job losses which increased workload and reduced the standard of patient care.
Read more at Southern Cross University