P.E.I. facing nursing shortages
A total of 89 positions across the province currently vacant, leading to high rate of overtime for existing nurses
A shortage of nurses in P.E.I. is leading to burnout and low morale among registered nurses working overtime to fill gaps in the system, says the president of the P.E.I. Nurses Union.
Mona O’Shea says a high number of nursing vacancies coupled with a shortage of backfill, notably in specialty areas, has led to many full-time nurses being asked to work to 120 per cent of their position and part-time nurses working full-time hours.
“Nurses feel the obligation that they need to go (work overtime), not only for their team, but also for the clients and the patients that they see,” O’Shea said.
“I feel bad for the front line, I really do.”
The union has filed a grievance against the province on behalf of approximately six dialysis nurses who are being denied the two weeks of summer vacation guaranteed in their collective agreement due to a shortage of backfill nurses trained in dialysis treatment.
The six nurses have only been granted two days of vacation for the whole summer.
Meanwhile, a shortage of nurse practitioners is also causing concern.
A job posting for a replacement nurse practitioner at the O’Leary Health Centre last month had to be reposted recently with an incentive added, stating, “Relocation expenses may be available in accordance with Treasury Board policy.”
It’s a problem across P.E.I.’s health system, with vacancies also in licensed practical nursing (LPN) positions.
Marion Dowling, chief of nursing at Health P.E.I., says there are about 89 full-time and temporary RN, LPN and nurse practitioner positions currently vacant across the province.
An aging workforce is adding to these staffing concerns, with a study in the province’s new three-year nursing strategy predicting attrition rates will be at 10 per cent by 2019 for RNs and seven per cent for LPNs.
That’s why recruitment and retention has been flagged as the No. 1 pillar in the new strategy.
“I think it’s a really big focus and priority for us, especially in the first year of the strategy,” Dowling said.
“We’ll be meeting over the summer to try to look at different
options to support the work units where we need to have better recruitment and where we also have a plan for retaining people.”
O’Shea says the nursing strategy is a positive step, but she notes the wheels of government can move slowly. She is concerned about nurses already feeling burned out by extended overtime shifts.
“You know as well as I do, strategies are implemented over a three- or four-year period, it doesn’t happen overnight.”
As for recruitment, O’Shea pointed to Nova Scotia, which hires every nursing graduate in that province who is a Nova Scotia resident.
P.E.I. graduated 68 nursing students at UPEI last year but
only hired 47 through its graduate employment and sponsorship programs.
This is an increase of nine hires compared to last year, but O’Shea says the province could do better.
Dowling says Health P.E.I. is taking steps to improve staffing levels, including combining part-time positions into fulltime permanent jobs to make working in P.E.I. more attractive to new graduates.
“Absolutely it’s our No. 1 working group for the first year of the strategy, looking at recruitment and retention,” Dowling said. “We know that staff need their rest, they deserve their vacation and their break as well, so we need to support them to get that as well.”