International nurses need warm welcome from new colleagues: N.S. health minister

When Health Minister Michelle Thompson spent time working as a nurse in Scotland, she could tell when people were having fun with her because she was different, and when people were making fun of her because of that.

"Humour with kindness is funny and humour without kindness is cruel, and you can always tell the difference," Thompson said while addressing a crowd of about 250 people at the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union annual meeting in Truro on Monday.

Thompson was ostensibly attending the meeting to field questions from nurses and to discuss the pending implementation of nurse-to-patient ratios following contract language agreed to in the nurses' most recent collective agreement.

But she pivoted to violence in the workplace — another longstanding concern for nurses — and, in doing so, also talked about the importance of a psychologically-safe work environment.

"We know that there is sometimes that old saying that nurses eat their own," Thompson said.

'It's not easy, but it's so important'

The issue has existed in nursing for years, she said. Even when she thinks about her own career as a nurse there are things she would change if she could, Thompson said, so critical self-reflection and talking and learning with colleagues are vital.

"One of the best things I ever learned was to have a difficult conversation and to separate the personal from the professional. It's not easy, but it's so important."

Her comments come at a time when the province is increasing its emphasis on attracting internationally-trained nurses to address stubborn workforce shortages. The hope is that more nurses will mean better working conditions in which they can care for fewer patients during a shift, face less overtime and get time off more easily, said Thompson.

Nova Scotia Nurses' Union president Janet Hazelton told reporters that there is a "significant amount of work" to do on the issue and it needs to be happening across units in hospitals around the province.

"We need to prepare our units and our communities for nurses that come from a different country, that nurses may look or speak differently than us," she said.

"That doesn't mean that they're not nurses, [or that] they're not good nurses."

Need to feel welcome

The annual meeting includes a panel with a group of international nurses who will talk about the challenges that come with moving to a new country to live and work. Hazelton said she's hoping the several hundred union members in attendance can learn from the message and bring it back to their own work settings.

That sentiment needs to extend beyond health-care workplaces and into communities, she said.

"Because we need them to come, but more importantly we need them to stay. We need them to feel welcome — not lonely, not isolated — we need to just support them and their family as much as we can."

Thompson echoed this view.

She said supportive colleagues helped her find her footing in Scotland, and she knows people moving to Nova Scotia from other countries will need that same kind of support as they navigate a new work environment, settling their children, finding child care and figuring out where to get groceries, among other challenges.

"We have to talk about that to understand it, and I do think things are getting better but we have to continue to talk about it and challenge ourselves to be more inclusive and kind in the profession," Thompson told reporters after her remarks.

"It's hard to be away from home — wherever home is — and we want to be a safe and welcoming environment. That's the work that's happening now."