A looming shortage of nurses in Canada can be blamed on cuts to the number of seats in post-secondary programs and an aging population of nurses, according to the president of the Canadian Nurses Association.
A report from the organization says there will be a shortfall of 78,000 nurses by 2011, rising to 113,000 by 2016 -- which will lead to longer wait times.
Marlene Smadu told CTV's Canada AM the drastic shortage can be linked to the two main factors.
"In the 1990s, there were government policy decisions that cut the number of nursing education seats in nursing programs right across Canada. We used to graduate about 12,000, we're graduating now about 8,000," Smadu said on Wednesday.
"The second major reason is the fact that as with most populations or career groups in Canada, we're aging. The average age of registered nurses is 44. If you just follow them through their career projection, there's going to be a lot retiring."
She said the direct result of the shortage will be longer wait times at hospitals.
"If you think about losing 45 per cent of your workforce, that will increase wait times," she said. "It would be like not being able to staff two floors of a four-storey hospital."
Michael Chiles, an emergency room nurse at Scarborough General Hospital, said the effects are already being felt on the front lines with longer backlogs developing in emergency waiting rooms.
But he said Scarborough General has introduced a pilot project that implements self-serve kiosks, so patients can sign themselves in. It seems to be working, he said.
"The way it's supposed to work is it will free up the time for the triage nurse to deal with the very critically ill or major cases, allowing the more minor cases to self-register and speed up their process through the emergency department," Chiles told Canada AM.
Smadu said nurses at the Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga are testing the use of BlackBerrys to communicate more efficiently
She said innovative solutions like the ones being implemented at Scarborough General and Trillium will be the key to addressing the nursing shortage.
"There are a lot of things we can do to improve work flow processes and work design and use technology appropriately to help the nurses who are in practice do their job efficiently and effectively," she said.
Smadu listed the following practical ways employers can address the nursing shortage:
- Reduce the rate of nurse absenteeism due to injury and illness (currently 15,000 each year)
- Create more initiatives to retain experienced nurses, such as professional development opportunities or working with junior nurses
