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head of canadian nurses association sounds alarm on staffing shortage
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nursing shortage is a crisis, says linda silas, president of the canadian federation of nurses unions: "immediate action is required to stop the bleed.” getty
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nurses across the country are sounding the alarm and they are sending a clear message to canadian patients: you deserve better. excessive workloads, staffing issues and unsafe working conditions are impacting nurses and patients everywhere, and these challenges are just the tip of the iceberg.
a report from the canadian federation of nurses unions suggests that half of those currently working in nursing want to switch professions, 94 per cent are showing signs of burnout and an overwhelming majority — 83 per cent — say that they are working in chronically understaffed environments. many nurses are choosing to retire early, and some new graduates are turning their backs on the profession and leaving within the first two years.
“let no one say we are catastrophizing,” said linda silas, president of the canadian federation of nurses unions in the new sustaining nursing in canada report. “the nursing shortage of 2022 is most certainly a crisis, and leaders need to address it as such. immediate action is required to stop the bleed.”
94% of nurses are showing signs of burnout
the document, published by the canadian health workforce network and the canadian federation of nurses unions, paints a grim picture. it outlines the challenges in the nursing profession and its impacts on nurses, patients and the health system, and puts forward targeted recommendations for addressing these issues. systemic challenges and poor planning are being blamed for the crisis, and while the report acknowledges that federal, provincial and territorial governments have implemented numerous strategies to address nursing shortages in early 2000s, many initiatives have been temporary.
according to dr. sylvain brousseau, president of the canadian nurses association, the pandemic has exacerbated the situation, but the crisis has been unravelling for the past two decades.
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“the issue has become so big,” he says. “we need co-ordinated, evidence-based solutions to resolve it.”
brousseau suggests that currently, due to excessive workloads, nurses don’t have the ability to seek out or pursue additional professional development opportunities, leaving gaps in the transfer of knowledge from veteran nurses to their early and mid-career colleagues. the extraordinary volume of work also makes it impossible for nurses to provide the kind of attention and care that each patient needs and deserves — not only are they on the frontlines of care, they’re also often buried in administrative tasks.
“if a nurse spends one hour entering administrative data on the computer, it’s one hour less spent on delivering care to patients,” he says.
brousseau is also advocating for safer working conditions to ensure that nurses and patients are protected from violent and aggressive encounters with those who may lash out after being fed up that they haven’t been seen by a doctor for hours. similarly, adequate mental health programs are needed to assist those who are struggling with burnout or mental health issues and to avoid negative impact to patients in their care. according to him, the five weeks that are currently available to nurses, is not enough time to properly address these types of challenges.
for a crisis of this magnitude, in which the challenges are endless, additional interventions must also be considered and put in place.
nurses deserve a “humanistic work environment”
brousseau believes that nurses and patients would benefit from a model that optimizes the nursing scope of practice in which whether a nurse practitioner, a registered psychiatric nurse or a nurse in a family practice, is able to fully utilize their knowledge, clinical judgment, reasoning and decision-making abilities. he reveals that when nurses aren’t bounced around departments, they can maximize their competencies in their area of expertise, which benefits patients, improves quality of care and outcomes.
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additionally, better retention strategies that help foster a “humanistic work environment” in which everyone is safe and happy, are needed to secure the existing workforce and attract new talent to the profession, according to brousseau. expediting the recognition of internationally educated nurses that are already living in canada may also help avert a nursing shortage in the future.
in a statement to healthing, the office of the federal health minister jean-yves duclos underscores that “the federal government is working closely with provinces and territories to address key issues impacting access to care, and to deliver results for canadians, their families and for our health workers.”
the statement also indicates that the federal budget for 2022 and 2023 fiscal years includes meaningful investments, such as eligibility to access up to $30,000 in loan forgiveness for nurses working in underserved or remote areas of the country, and that $115 million over five years, with $30 million ongoing, has been made available to expand the foreign credential recognition program, which will help to annually assist up to 11,000 internationally trained health-care professionals, including nurses, find opportunities in their field and secure employment in canada.
brousseau believes that the only way out of the decades-long crisis is to work collaboratively with all levels of government to implement as many targeted recommendations outlined in the sustaining nursing in canada report as possible. he says the status quo of inaction could lead to a mass exodus of nurses, which would, without a doubt, have catastrophic implications for canadian patients.
“nurses and other professionals are the backbone of our health-care system,” says brousseau. “we are at a point of no return, we need to fix this now.”
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maja begovic is a toronto-based freelancer.
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