Government must act to fix the nursing crisis
Burned out staff are leaving and the system is on the verge of catastrophe
Alberta's nurses are exhausted and stretched to their limits. Before the pandemic, nurses were already struggling with impossible workloads, excessive and often mandated overtime, rampant workplace violence, and a persistent lack of workplace protections. With every new wave of COVID, the stresses and demands on nurses increased, leaving them with less and less in the tank.
Nurses are being told to work overtime and are being denied personal leave days and vacation. We have heard stories of nurses “being chased down in grocery stores” and told they were needed at work by their managers. After two years on the front lines of the pandemic, Alberta's nurses are looking to the government to strengthen public health care and fix the staffing crisis that has eroded patient care in every corner of Alberta.
But this crisis has been years in the making. Even before the pandemic, burnout rates among nurses were extreme. Nationwide, more than 60 per cent experienced some symptoms of burnout, while almost 30 per cent were experiencing clinical burnout. Since the pandemic, those numbers have increased to 94 per cent of nurses experiencing burnout, with almost half now classified as clinical, meaning they need mental health supports. The very people Albertans depend upon to care for them, are no longer able to care for themselves.
As a result, many nurses are quitting, and positions aren't being filled. Nurse vacancies nationwide increased by
133 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the same period in 2021, according to Statistics Canada. Now more than half of all nurses in Canada are considering leaving their current position in the next year, including 19 per cent who are considering leaving nursing altogether. This is even higher in Alberta, where a recent survey conducted for the United Nurses of Alberta found that 29 per cent of nurses are considering leaving nursing or retiring in the next two years.
Dozens of hospitals and health centres across rural Alberta have faced temporary closures because of the staffing crisis. The Red Deer Regional Hospital, which serves a large part of central Alberta, has had to cancel surgeries, and divert patients to already overstressed hospitals in Calgary and Edmonton. Parents and children waiting for care at the Alberta Children's Hospital emergency department in Calgary have been forced to line up outside for up to seven hours. Concerted government action is urgently needed to turn the tide and stem the exodus of nurses from the system.
For starters, we need to restore hope in two ways. First, by giving nurses a light at the end of the tunnel with firm timelines and real accountability for improving nurse-patient ratios. That means funding proven programs to retain and recruit more nurses, including returning those who have left the profession. We must supply relief, incentives and compensation to the thousands of nurses who are on the brink of leaving the profession. And funding for more nursing seats, bridging programs, new mentorship initiatives, and support for transitioning internationally educated nurses. And second, by providing immediate and ongoing support for nurses' mental health programs.
Nursing has always been a tough job. People go into the profession for that very reason because they want to help people and aren't afraid of a challenge. The problem is it's not a tough job anymore, it's an impossible one. Canada's nurses are some of the most resilient people we know. They have seen great hardship and suffering so they do not ask for help lightly. And if we don't take immediate action, we risk suffering a system-wide failure of our treasured universal public health-care system.
Next week, federal, provincial, and territorial governments will assemble at the Council of the Federation meeting to discuss health care. Our message has never been clearer. Alberta and Canada's health-care systems are on the brink of catastrophe. We must fix the dire shortage of nurses.