Nursing shortage needs urgent care: report

Nursing shortage needs urgent care: report
By Sue Bailey, The Canadian Press

Excerpts:

OTTAWA - A critical shortage of registered nurses is on track to hit 60,000 by 2022 unless governments act, says a new report by the Canadian Nurses Association.

Kaaren Neufeld, president of the professional advocacy group, says patients already suffering long wait times will bear the brunt if nothing is done to ease burnout and flagging morale.

The report tracks demographic demands alongside nursing trends to forecast the shortfall. There were almost 217,000 registered nurses in 2007 - already a shortage of 11,000 full-time positions, it says.

"I would like Canadians to try and imagine if all the nurses working full-time in ... Alberta and British Columbia combined were not available to practise within the health-care system - how radically we would have to change our expectations about what the system can provide for us," Neufeld said of the 2022 scenario.

The sheer stress of overwork, short-staffing and lack of sometimes basic equipment takes its toll, said Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. The umbrella group represents 158,000 members.

"It gets to a point where you have nurses so tired that when one of their colleagues calls in sick, they just say: 'Give me a warm body' - regardless if he or she has the education."

Personal care workers are heavily relied on in some regions.

"We need (them), don't get me wrong," Silas said. "But for patient safety and quality care, you need the nurses around and we shouldn't jeopardize this because of the shortage."

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