The British government faced new demands today to address the shortfall in the recruitment and retention of nurses in Northern Ireland.
The Royal College of Nursing said its members have become disillusioned with long hours and poor pay.
It also warned low morale could hamper the modernisation of patient services.
The RCN said the province has the highest number of staff nurses on low grades in the UK - 25% of whom have additional jobs.
A survey found a quarter of nurses intended to leave their employer in the next two years, while 61% felt changes in junior doctors' hours have resulted in an increase in their workload.
Janice Smyth, RCN Northern Ireland Deputy Director, said the findings should act as a wake-up call for the NHS.
"It is clear from this survey that we are still not getting it right when it comes to the recruitment and retention of nurses in Northern Ireland," she said.
"This comes at a time when the Public Accounts Committee indicated that there is a shortage of nurses to work in theatres.
"However, it is obvious that there is still work to be done to ensure that our existing nurses are rewarded and valued and that nursing is an attractive career option."
Ms Smyth said nurses should be properly paid for their increased workload and performing more out-of-hours services.
She added: "While nurses have made it clear through this survey that they enjoy their work, it is also evident that they have more to do than ever before and are not being paid enough to do it.
"For this reason, the RCN is calling for an above-inflation pay increase for nurses to bring their pay into line with other public sector workers."
The research also found more nurses in Northern Ireland have childcare responsibilities (64%) than in the rest of the UK (55%) and more nurses work part-time in the province.
It also revealed less than half of nurses in Northern Ireland say that they can take time off for training and only a third of respondents have a training and development plan, compared to more than half across the rest of the UK.