Making Nova Scotia the land of opportunity for nurses

This is National Nursing Week, which celebrates the many contributions of nurses across our country. Nurses represent the highest proportion of health-care workers globally, and we are pleased to recognize the incredible difference they make to our health and well-being.

At Nova Scotia Health, there are approximately 8,000 nurses — registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nurse practitioners — who work in every area of the health-care system, from community-based care, such as family practice, public health, and long-term care, to our many acutecare units, such as oncology, COVID, and cardiac care. They are always there when we need them the most – in happy moments, and in some of the most difficult.

It’s clear that the past few months have been incredibly challenging, as have the past two years. However, around the province, our nurses have continued to answer the call by responding to requests to adapt and work in areas where they are most needed. The courage and commitment they bring to work every single day truly embodies what it means to be in this role.

Nova Scotia Health is a leader in understanding and contributing to the evidence locally, nationally, and internationally on initiatives that support and strengthen a high-functioning nursing workforce who provide quality care for patients through their skills and expertise. This includes strategies focused on nurses working in Nova Scotia Health and in the health system by providing professional development opportunities, nursing strategy funds, innovation grants, supporting our nurses in bringing their skills and expertise to patient care and team collaborations, and transition to practice supports.

For example, Nova Scotia Health has more than 4,000 nursing learner placements who participate in an early immersion program to support their clinical experience. And so far, this year there are 300 new graduate nurses with access to simulation training, preceptors and mentors, and e-learning modules.

As well, new opportunities exist for nurses throughout the province. Nova Scotia Health is committed to funding innovative ways to engage our nurses.

Providing registered nurses with the ability to prescribe certain medications and diagnostic tests is a gamechanger in the areas of primary care as well as emergency care, and especially in rural communities across the province. An initial cohort of three began prescribing in February. Eight more registered nurses are participating in the program offered through Dalhousie University and we will have more nurses in the program over the next year. In family practice, enabling nurses to prescribe certain medications to patients enhances timely care for chronic disease management and other priority care needs.

Our nurse practitioners now have the authority to admit patients to Nova Scotia Health hospitals. We are especially focused on the capacity and access enhancement this brings in rural and remote communities across the province. And our internationally educated nurses are contributing to the health-care system in many ways and are instrumental in enhancing the long-term sustainability of Nova Scotia’s nursing workforce.

By taking down barriers, we are working more broadly on how nurses who are in Nova Scotia and want to be part of the health system are engaged and hired. We are working with key partners, including the College of Nurses to support this work.

We are also focused on attracting and recruiting internationally educated nurses — those who live in the province, in Canada, and those who want to relocate here are instrumental in contributing to our workforce and its long-term sustainability. To date, 85 internationally trained nurses have joined Nova Scotia Health, and 100 more will be recruited this year. We are working with multiple partners to implement a comprehensive program that includes settlement, education and training, conditional licensing pathways, community integration supports and transition to practice with supervision and mentorship for these nurses. These supports will be made available to all new nurses to the system and to the province.

Nursing learners along with retired nurses have new opportunities within Nova Scotia Health. Earlier this year, our nursing students were able to provide much-needed extra resources to long-term-care and acute-care settings that were managing staff shortages due to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. And many of our retired licensed practical nurses returned to the front lines to administer tests and vaccinations.

As we recognize National Nursing Week, our Nova Scotia Health executive leadership team and zone leadership members ask that, collectively, as Nova Scotians, we take a moment to reflect on the contributions that nurses make to patients, our health and the health-care system. Thank you to our nurses for all that you do, and happy National Nursing Week.