Province's plan to graduate more nurses gets mixed review from N.B. nurses union

The province's plan to fund more nursing program seats is getting a mixed review from New Brunswick's nurses union.

The new plan would see the University of New Brunswick and the University of Moncton rewarded for every nursing graduate above a baseline, potentially adding 85 new graduates per year.

Paula Doucet, president of the New Brunswick Nurses Union, said it's always good when people start to talk about addressing the province's nursing shortage, but she's not convinced the government is on the right track.

"I'm not really sure about the money, at the end of producing graduates, versus maybe making it more accessible for those that want to go into the program," Doucet told Information Morning Moncton on Tuesday. 

"May have been another angle to look at."

There was little consultation with the union, Doucet said, aside from a heads-up last Friday that an announcement was coming on Monday.

Nursing shortage

The province has been dealing with a chronic nursing shortage for years, one that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doucet said there are 1,000 registered nurse vacancies and 300 practical nurse vacancies across the province.

On Monday, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard said there was a vacancy rate of 16 per cent at Horizon Health Network  and 12 per cent at the Vitalité Health Network.

As of Tuesday, the latest numbers that are available, 427 health-care workers in the Horizon and Vitalité networks were self-isolating because of COVID-19.

Filling seats

There are mixed opinions on how difficult it will be to fill the new nursing program seats.

On Monday, Paul Mazerolle, president of the University of New Brunswick, said attracting students into the program hasn't been an issue.

However, Suzanne Harrison, the director of the University of Moncton's school of nursing, said filling the previous number of seats at her school has been difficult in the past, in part because of the pandemic.

Harrison said she's not sure if the university will be able to fill the projected 160 seats.

"I know that our campus in Edmundston has struggled over the last couple of years, but they've got a really good plan in place," Harrison told Information Morning Moncton on Tuesday.

That plan includes trying to attract more students from French-speaking countries, such as Belgium, Haiti and Switzerland.

"I think we're up for the challenge to at least, you know, go and do a lot better than we've done in the past."

Retaining nurses

Doucet said it's not enough just to add more nursing program seats.

She said there's anecdotal evidence that shows other jurisdictions are aggressively incentivizing New Brunswick nurses to leave the province for jobs elsewhere.

Issues like accepting qualifications for international nurses, having placements for new graduates and improving working conditions are all areas that need to be addressed to solve the nursing shortage, according to Doucet.

"It will be tough, but I think that's where, you know, all the stakeholders have to be rowing in the same direction," Doucet said.

"It takes a cultural shift, I think, for people to really see that we want to make a difference."