Demand for nurses continues to rise
Report says remote areas hardest hit
When Laurie Long’s daughter, Hannah, was diagnosed with global development delays at six months of age, Long wasn’t prepared for what the next five years would bring. Repeated visits to the hospital — one every six weeks — made it a kind of second home for Long and transformed the nurses into a second family.
“The nurses listened to me, they tried to find answers for me and they advocated for my daughter with the doctor,” says Long. “They became my friends. My husband was working away, I was on my own a lot, and they provided me with support. And Hannah liked to see them and grew to be comforted by them as well.”
When the treatment ended, Long walked away with more than just a healthier daughter — she was inspired to take up a new career as a nurse.
“I thought that maybe there might be a way I could help a family cope with a sick child, or be a positive memory amid a myriad of crappy ones,” says Long, now 39. “I figured I had something to give.”
Nurses fill many roles, from hospice and clinical care to counselling.
“Wherever there is a need, nurses care,” says Judith Shamian, president of the Canadian Nurses Association. “You’ll find them in neurosurgery operating care and you’ll see them running prenatal classes and organizing community groups. They are really the backbone of the health-care system.”
Nurses are the largest group of regulated health professionals in Canada. According to recent statistics complied by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), there were 354,910 regulated nurses working in Canada in 2010, an increase of 8.8 per cent since 2006. In 2010, 30 per cent of RNS (registered nurses) and 33.9 per cent of LPNS (licensed practical nurses) worked in part-time positions; 11.9 per cent of RNS and 16.5 per cent of LPNS worked in casual positions.
Although nurses comprise onethird of the Canadian health care workforce, and that number continues to grow, CIHI reports there are fewer RNS per capita today (787/100,000 population) than there were in the early 1990s (824/100,000 population).
Shamian says the demand for nurses today is highest in northern, more remote areas. There is also substantial demand for nurses in home care and long-term care facilities.
“Nurses in hospital settings like to work in critical care, emergency and other highly specialized units,” says Shamian. “The less desired work settings are the medical units. It is hard to recruit for longterm care and home care.”
But nursing shortages are evident to varying degrees across the country.
“Right now every province is crying poor,” adds Linda Silas, president of Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.
The provinces of British Columbia and Ontario are the hardest hit, says Silas, with over-capacity being a big issue.
“They’re working short,” says Silas. “There are patients in hallways, bathrooms, wherever, because the No. 1 issue right now is workload. There are not enough nurses to take care of the patients.”
As a result, many nurses are working more overtime than ever.
Public sector nurses worked 20,627,800 hours of overtime in 2010, the equivalent of 11,400 jobs costing $891 million annually. The overtime rate was 29 per cent in 2010 compared to 10.5 per cent in 1992. In addition, 17.3 per cent of nurses worked paid overtime in 2010 while 14.5 per cent of nurses worked unpaid overtime, up from 12.9 per cent in 2008 and 12.8 per cent in 2005.
Long hours are common for Long, who admits burnout is one of the challenges nurses can face.
“As a new nurse you sometimes feel you need to take lots of shifts, to prove yourself and to make money after a long time of not making any,” she says. “Also because we are so short of staff, the staffing office calls everyday, usually more than once.”
Despite the long hours, Long says the rewards far outweigh the challenges.
“Being there when people are most vulnerable is a privilege,” she says.