Nurses overworked, at breaking point

Nurses and other healthcare professionals have been widely hailed as heroes for how they’ve cared for us during COVID-19, but who is looking after the nurses?

Across Atlantic Canada, we hear stories regularly about long shifts, difficulty getting holiday time, concerns about exhaustion and unsafe nursing practices due to staff shortages and general burnout.

The situation was dire even before the pandemic.

In Newfoundland and Labrador alone last year, there were 1,100 “code white” calls for incidents of violence involving registered nurses.

But COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation, diverting some nurses temporarily to public health clinics and contact-tracing positions and leaving shortfalls elsewhere, like in emergency rooms.

The pandemic has also created extra duties for nurses because of the added public health protocols that have to be followed.

“This summer will be our most challenging,” Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union president Janet Hazelton has said.

Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union president Jason Maclean said this month that nurses are stretched thin and starting to break.

In Prince Edward Island, P.E.I. Nurses’ Union president Barbara Brookins says her province faces a “crisis of staffing,” with more than 200 vacancies currently, and with some nurses leaving full-time positions for parttime jobs because they have been unable to take time off.

Brookins said the problem in P.E.I. has been made worse by time-consuming Public Service Commission protocols that slow the hiring process.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the Registered Nurses’ Union (RNU) has launched a public awareness campaign about the crisis in the profession, saying health care simply can’t be delivered to the appropriate standard.

“I’ve been working as a registered nurse for 12 years now, and this is the worst I’ve seen it since I started,” said registered nurse and RNU board member Jodi Nolan.

According to the federal government, Canada was staring down a deficit of 36,500 nurses by 2028 — and that figure was calculated pre-pandemic.

Nurses across the region have proposed solutions to the problem.

They say there needs to be a greater emphasis on retention and recruitment, with incentives offered to keep nurses in their respective provinces.

They are calling for longterm human resource plans for health care.

They say there should be better benefits for nurses who start out in casual positions, and they’d like to see more seats added to nursing schools.

Nurses are the glue that keeps our hospitals running and our health-care systems responsive.

They are often the first point of contact for patients and make personal sacrifices every day to offer the best care they can.

If they are truly valued, it’s time provincial governments started listening and preparing a plan of action to address chronic nursing shortages.

We’d all like to think a nurse will be there when we need one.

Right now, they’re in crisis mode.