Rally in Regina aims to draw attention to Sask. nurse shortage

Nurses, nursing students and members of the public rallied in Regina's Wascana Park over the lunch hour on Wednesday to draw attention to the worker shortage that continues to plague the province's health-care system.

The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) organized the rally, which saw people march from the Legislature Building to the bandstand in Wascana Park.

"We're extremely concerned for the patients, for the safety of people that are in our care every day," Tracy Zambory, SUN's president said. "Something tragic is going to happen if we don't turn this around."

The union commissioned survey was sent out to all SUN members — about 11,000 nurses in the province. More than 1,600 nurses participated and the results were released Wednesday. The union said a random probability sample of a survey of that size would yield a general margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 per cent at a 95 per cent confidence level.

The survey revealed many participants believe the worker shortage is leading to deteriorating quality of care for patients and increasingly worse working conditions for nurses.

"We have a strong message and we're going to get it out there because registered nurses care," Zambory said following the rally. "We're here for our patients and we're here because registered nurses can't take it anymore."

Overwhelmed hospitals

Wyatt Munson sees the impacts of the nursing shortage on a daily basis. He graduated from nursing school in 2020 and now works as an emergency room nurse at Regina General Hospital.

Munson said more nurses are needed to improve patient care.

"They're tired of being put into the hallway where they can't see their nurses, or call their nurses when something happens," Munson said on CBC Radio's The Morning Edition.

"Families get frustrated when they see their family members suffering from the wait times. "

The union said more than 80 per cent of survey respondents knew of a time when patients were at risk due to short staffing.

The shortage isn't just hard for patients.

Munson said the closure of emergency centres in parts of rural Saskatchewan has led to ERs in bigger centres like Regina and Saskatoon being flooded with patients which can impact nurses. 

"Having up to or over 100 patients at times, people screaming and shouting and everyone running around to care for people … it causes a very overwhelming work environment for a lot of newer staff,"  Munson said.

"Even for senior staff, the pressure has built on them."

Focus on retention

Munson said the shortage is taking a toll on more experienced nurses because they have to ensure the department is running properly while also worrying about giving newer staff the guidance they need.

The union says three out of the five nurses who answered the survey have considered leaving the profession in the last 12 months for another line of work, with slightly more than 90 per cent saying their working conditions have had a negative impact on their mental health.

Munson says the province has to put more emphasis on retaining current nurses rather than just recruiting new ones.

"There's a lot of bonuses for new nurses to come or [for] travel nurses to come," Munson said.

"If we have a better retention strategy to keep the senior staff in our system, then we can properly educate and mentor the new staff to keep our workforce stronger."

Zambory said the province should implement a nursing task force to help tackle the province's health care crisis.

"Our voices aren't being heard. We've talked all through COVID with people. We keep meeting and meeting, but nothing's coming of it,"  Zambory said. 

"We don't want to do that anymore. We want to see some action."