New Brunswick nurses on the brink of collapse, union says after survey

A survey of thousands of New Brunswick nurses found they have little confidence in the province's ability to make their working lives more bearable, union officials said Wednesday.

And a punishing "culture of acceptance" is to blame for how far conditions have deteriorated, they said.

"If this was not a predominantly female occupation, would things have gotten this bad?" Cathy Rogers, research and education officer with the New Brunswick Nurses Union, asked at a news conference called to release results of a survey of nurses.  

"Would it have taken this long to prioritize the supports and need for more nurses and to take care of the nurses that we have already?"

Nurses 'finding their voice'

More than 4,185 registered nurses and nurse practitioners responded to the survey and sent the message feel their working conditions aren't safe, and things aren't changing, said Rogers, a former Liberal MLA.

But nurses are now standing up for themselves, said Paula Doucet, president of the union representing close to 9,000 nurses.

"As a predominantly female profession, I think over the years that nursing has, more or less, just to follow the rules," she said. "However, nurses are finding their voice to say enough is enough." 

The Nurses Association of New Brunswick says 94 per cent of nurses were women as of four years ago.

In the survey, nurses cited long hours, critical under staffing and unsafe conditions as major factors in problems finding and retaining nurses.

The survey data collection was collected during June 2021. The union did not represent licensed practical nurses until after Oct. 8 2021.

At a glance, the survey results reinforce hard truths about the quality of health care in the province. For instance, 91.73 per cent of nurses who responded said that over the past three years, the quality of health care overall has gotten worse.

Testimonies were also gathered, and nurses offered stories of the challenges that come with the job.

One nurse responded to the survey: "Feeling chest heaviness while we're running through the hallways and pee dribbling down my leg is not even a humane job ... We are forced to work like this because we are always so short-staffed."

In just six months, nurses were recorded as working over 292,000 hours of overtime, with shifts of at least 16 hours not uncommon.

Doucet said patient care suffers, especially aspects of after care, such as having the time to talk to patients about their health problems.

"I'll use the example of a newly diagnosed diabetic … sitting and really teaching them to understand their disease," said Doucet.

"They [nurses] don't have the time to do that, so what happens to that newly diagnosed diabetic is they get discharged from hospital with only half the education that they should have received. And a few weeks later, they're showing up either at their doctor's office or the emergency department in a diabetic crisis."

Education and retention

Doucet said investment has to be geared toward maintaining a sizeable level of nursing graduates and making sure that the province has enough university seats available and the ability to educate those who want to take the courses.

Even after graduation and getting a position, nearly 38 per cent of nurses say they face accessibility issues with receiving training and education to further their knowledge. 

"Whether it's surgical education, it could be medical, palliative care, emergency, ICU — there's no time for them to take these educational tools because there's no replacement for them," said Doucet, commenting on how nurses have to keep up with new procedures, techniques and treatments.

Budget concerns

On Tuesday, the Higgs government announced a projected surplus for 2021-22 of $487.8 million.

Doucet said she was surprised to hear this announcement given the state of nursing, with more than 1,000 vacancies. 

"What I can say is that New Brunswick has to step up and ... recognize the work that health-care workers have done throughout this pandemic," she said, noting other jurisdictions have recognized frontline workers through monetary incentives or additional days off. 

The province is spending $25 million less on health care so far this year, in part because COVID-19 has delayed the launch of new programs, including doctor and nurse recruitment efforts.

Minister responds

At an event in Saint John, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard tried to address some of the concerns raised by the nurses,  suggesting change is already underway.

Shephard noted that the survey was conducted before the government signed a new collective agreement with nurses in December. Better working conditions are being addressed in the agreement, she said.

"We know that things aren't going to change overnight, but we took working conditions very seriously, and we ensured that working conditions were on the table during our negotiations and discussions," said Shephard.