Last week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that the province will start automatically recognizing the credentials of health-care workers registered in other provinces and territories
MONTREAL — Efforts to lure nurses from other provinces are underway in several parts of the country, but the head of a national nurses association says the poaching won't solve anything unless working conditions are improved.
A spokesperson said recruiting from outside of New Brunswick isn't new, and that it's also hiring nurses through partnerships with universities in Maine and in India, as well as taking steps to retain workers. The province's other regional health authority, Vitalité Health Network, says it will be attending several career fairs in Quebec in the coming weeks.
"All provinces in Canada face the same challenge of a shortage of labour in their health-care systems," the office of Health Minister Christian Dubé said in a statement. "It's in everyone's interest to recruit people internationally. Meanwhile, we continue to work so that our network becomes an employer of choice and to improve working conditions."
Brosseau said he'd also like to see an end to practices like mandatory overtime, which remains common in Quebec, and nurses being pressured to work ostensibly optional overtime shifts. Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, a University of Ottawa professor and director of the Canadian Health Workforce Network, said the efforts to recruit nurses across provincial boundaries are a symptom of a wider problem.
Solving Canada's nursing shortage needs to start with retention, she argues; recruitment alone can't solve it. "It's focusing on one part of the challenge, of bringing more in, and we're not looking at all of those who are leaving," she said. "It's not a long-term strategy."
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