An Insight on the Nursing Shortage in Canada

Running Head: AN INSIGHT ON THE NURSING SHORTAGE IN CANADA
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AN INSIGHT ON THE NURSING SHORTAGE IN CANADA
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AN INSIGHT ON THE NURSING SHORTAGE IN CANADA1
Nurses are coined as one of the most crucial professionals in the healthcare system. Their
contribution is considered as vital in achieving developmental goals in delivering effective and
safe health care facilities. The most common challenge for varied developing and developing
countries is the lack of proper human resource availability and its maintenance, whereas the most
significant one being the availability of nurses be it in a local, regional national or a global
perspective British Columbia and the entire nation in Canada is facing strict challenges in
retaining their registered nurses, which in turn is negatively effecting the standard of medical
facility in the country. The shortage of nursing is generally not measured directly, but
specifically highlighted by the prevalence of diseases, availability of technology (including
advancement of drugs/vaccinations) and public expectations. Thus, this essay will specifically
highlight on this medical crisis existing in Canada and how the country plans to deal with this
present existing crisis.
Non-profit and independent organization, The Canadian Institute for Health Information
(CIHI) that specifically deals with information regarding the Canadian health system, thus going
by its statistics In the past 10 years Canada did witness 0.7% gowth in its working nurse
force(Braithwaite et al., 2017). It is very evident that the high demand of nurses which has
exceeded its supply, Canada is facing such constrains in medical infrastructure. Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development has suggested certain basic reason, which has fuelled
this shortage of nursing in Canada. This imbalance of demand and supply of quality nurses in
Canada can be accounted to certain specific reasons, such as: the growing amount of aging
population in Canada, coupled with a very minimum number of individuals joining this specific
profession generally due to the low social value given to nursing and availability of better

AN INSIGHT ON THE NURSING SHORTAGE IN CANADA2
professional growth in other sectors of employment (Udod & Care, 2012). Moreover, migration
of health care personnel have a very serious impact on the overall availability of nurses in the
country. The basic reason behind such immigration can be lack of proper pay structure or any
other personal reason. Quebec another significant nursing association predicts its own crisis of
11000 nurses between the year 2001 and 2015 (Palley, 2013). Another significant problem,
which has been highlighted in this shortage of nursing in Canada, is that the potential nurse force
is ageing and there is no remarkable influx of new nurses in the country. This is seriously
threating the quality of medical facility provided by the hospitals. The imbalance in the
retirement and recruitment procedure of new
This labor shortage in the nursing profession can be attributed to varied reasons. One
primary reason is the excessive workload coupled with the poor work environment. The National
Review of Nursing Education stated that the lack safety of the nurses, insignificant recognition
of efforts, insufficient pay and curbing out the autonomy of qualified nurses often lead to
emotional taxing on the professionals which compel them to leave the profession (Moore &
Dienemann, 2013). Professional satisfaction is directly linked with the retention and performance
appraisal of the professionals. However the current working environment assured to the nurses in
Canada lack the supply of the necessary infrastructure as well as appositive work environment to
ensure productivity. Thus, a revision in the whole management and organizational structure of
the health care and nursing industry might help the nation retain and recruit nurses in a better
manner. A closer look on the nursing landscape of Canada shows Ontario is the most affected
region in this country, which is facing extreme nursing staff shortage. Statistics and data released
today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) states that Ontario has the worst
registered nurse-to-population ratio, which is only 669 registered nurses per 100,000 people

AN INSIGHT ON THE NURSING SHORTAGE IN CANADA3
compared to 828 registered nurses per 100,000 people across the rest of Canada (Nardi &
Gyurko, 2013). This shortage is highly attributed to issues like poor communication, weakening
nurse-patient relationship, improper ratio of availability of nurses as compared to the number of
patients being admitted every day (Bobbio, Bellan & Manganelli, 2012). Much attention needs to
be given to factors like improving interdisciplinary team work measures along with ensuring a
proper and safe work environment to the nurses in Ontario to establish a proper check to the
falling statistics of employed nurses in the medical industry.
There is no doubt on the fact that nurses play a very significant role in improving the
medical infrastructure. Nurse as a profession, is dedicated for a twenty-four seven-work service.
Nurses are often attributed as the unsung heroes of the global economy. Thus, nurses play a very
crucial role in promoting healthy lifestyle practices which ensures a healthy living. Nurses not
only affect in the quality of health care facility but also directly influences in developing a
framework of policies about how exactly care should be given. The Public Services Health and
Safety Association (PSHSA) has underlined the most critical challenges that the nurse face being
in this profession. Nurses often complain of the high risk they face being in a profession of
saving others life. According to Henrietta Van hulle ,the executive director of PSHSA: nurses
have been extremely mistreated such as from being physically abused to extreme psychological
trauma of being verbally abused apart from being extremely over buderned with unbearable job
pressure and horrifying work environment (Maughan, Bobo, Butler & Schantz, 2016) . Thus,
this shortage of nurses and an imbalance in the demand and supply of the nurses in Canada in a
vicious circle which includes determinants like absenteeism, quit, early retirement,
discouragement to new recruits, stress, vulnerability to injury, disability, burn out more work and
overtime (Auerbach, Buerhaus & Staiger, 2014)