The Iwate prefectural federation of medical workers' unions conducted the poll on working conditions targeting about 3,000 nursing personnel in the prefecture in February both online and in writing. Nursing personnel included public health nurses, midwives, nurses and assistant nurses, and 997 people responded. Regarding the results, the federation says nursing staff are at their physical and mental limits because of labor shortages and is calling for improvements in their working conditions, including staff increases and wage hikes.