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.
“We know that nurses are facing inadequate working conditions, and that is the main reason many are leaving their jobs,” Sylvain Brousseau, the president of the Canadian Nurses Association, said in an interview Thursday. “If working conditions and retention are not the focus, the new nurses recruited from other provinces may find themselves wanting to leave their jobs.”
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. “A doctor from British Columbia or a nurse from Quebec who wants to come and work in Ontario shouldn't face barriers or bureaucratic delays to start providing care,” Ford told a Jan. 19 news conference.
Brousseau said nurses need better pay, more support staff - so they can focus on caring for patients - and responsibility for fewer patients. He said the nurses association isn't opposed to nurses going to another province to work and that it has been calling for a reduction of barriers between provinces - but that won't fix the problems.
While it's not the first time Canadian health-care systems have looked to other parts of the country for staff, the shortage of nurses and other health-care workers is worse than before.
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