At UKC Ljubljana, by far Slovenia's largest hospital, they have a shortage of nursing staff at departments including heart surgery, the emergency unit, dialysis and the lung department that the hospital describes as "critical".
At the intensive care unit of the internal medicine department, there were 75 nurses at the start of 2017 and only 67 at the end of May this year.
Job ads are posted on an ongoing basis but many positions remain vacant, the hospital said.
The hospital estimates that they would need 10% more nurses, which translates into 340 nursing posts.
The situation in other hospitals is much worse.
UKC Maribor, the second largest hospital in the country, estimates they would need an additional 400 nurses, as nearly one in three posts remain vacant.
In Sežana in the west, 43% of nursing posts would need to be filled, in Šempeter, they would have to double the current number of nurses.
All in all, it is estimated that Slovenia needs over 2,000 nurses and midwives at the moment.
UKC Ljubljana would not speculate on why so many nurses decide to leave.
"They are probably looking for better jobs ... It is very difficult for us to find ways to retain them, except with higher pay, which is very limited considering the public sector pay law," the hospital said.
But Monika Ažman, the president of the National Nursing and Midwifery Chamber, has a few answers.
"The ZUJF hit us with a delay," she said in reference to the abbreviation for the omnibus law on fiscal consolidation that enacted sweeping pay cuts in the public sector in 2012.
Ažman said there was increasing demand for nursing staff in Slovenia and abroad, but in nearby countries such as Austria and Germany, the pay is much better and the working conditions are better.
In the last two years, the chamber issued 420 pieces of proof of good repute, a document that nurses need to work abroad.
However, Austria no longer requires this document, which is why the chamber does not know how many of its members have left to work there.
Ažman said nurses travelled for work as far as Australia, the United States and New Zealand, while one recently they decided to relocate to Jamaica.
To fill staff shortages, many health institutions hire retired nurses. Some post job ads in the former Yugoslavia.
"The problems are the same throughout Europe. Nursing staff are moving north. Everyone is migrating towards a better income," she said.
