President of the Nurses Association of Jamaica Carmen Johnson says the outbreak of dengue fever has created staffing challenges for nurses.

Speaking in an interview with Irie FM News, Johnson noted that the current outbreak poses a significant challenge to the health sector which does not have adequate numbers of nurses to staff units on a regular basis.

She said in December, some nurses had to be doing two shifts per day to provide the necessary shift coverage.

She further noted that this created burn out among several nurses and thus further negatively impacted staffing levels.

The Nurses Association President said with the recent announcement of an outbreak of dengue fever, she suspects that there will be an increase in the number of people going to health care facilities, to seek treatment.

She noted that this increase in patients might further burden the health care sector.

Johnson said there is also the issue of confirming cases, which takes an extensive time.

She is urging residents to clean-up their environment and get rid of mosquito breeding sites.