CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The P.E.I. Nurses Union is asking the province to focus on retaining nurses to help stop staff shortages in long-term care.
The union says Heath P.E.I. currently has 305 vacant full-time nursing positions, or 23 per cent of the 1,347 nursing positions. Additionally, more than 300 nurses are eligible to retire this year, according to union statistics.
One of those is Joanne Chisholm, 60, an RN with 38 years of experience and vice-president of the P.E.I. Nurses Union, who is eligible to retire at any time.
“I will not be working until I’m 62. There would have to be some benefit for me to stay. Some work-life balance,” Chisholm told the legislative standing committee on health and social development June 8.
“I need something to show that I’m valued and respected and needed.”
Crisis situation
“So, long-term care. It’s in crisis,” union president Barbara Brookins said to the standing committee. “Basically, we’re talking about health-care staff vacancies which are at an all-time high.”
The P.E.I. Nurses’ Union (PEINU) represents around 13,000 registered nurses (RNs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) in the province. Of those, 1,042 work with Health P.E.I.
Long-term care facilities run by Health P.E.I. are chronically understaffed, but the need for long-term care is not diminishing, she said.
“Some of the most desperate facilities have been forced to open beds when they don’t have enough staff to fill the shifts, so they’re relying on casual staff and even forced reassignment to cover the shifts,” said Brookins, even though there are around 100 closed beds in the system. “The reality is, there are still more beds open than there are enough staff to provide safe care, let alone the level of care we would expect for our most vulnerable population.”
The 2009 Model of Care document caused a steep decline in the number of nurses working in long-term care, said Brookins.
Many smaller Health P.E.I. facilities only have one RN on shift and are not able to adapt to last-minute absences.
“There’s no back up plan,” said Brookins. “Imagine coming to work and knowing there’s nobody scheduled for the next shift.”
“Health P.E.I. needs to address the root cause of the problem – the excessive overtime, inadequate and unsafe nurse-patient ratio, the inability to take time off and the toxic workplace culture.”
— Barbara Brookins
Finding balance
Brookins said if Health P.E.I. can’t provide their employees with some work-life balance, staff will find it another way.
“Members are realizing that, with the inability to get time off, they can move to part-time employment and pick up as much extra shifts as they want — which is far easier than working full-time and trying to get shifts off.”
Staff movements cost more than time.
Health P.E.I. spends $15,000 on training and certifications every time a nurse changes jobs.
Another option is the one Chisholm chose – to simply leave the profession, taking skills and experience out of the complement of nurses.
It’s critical for the employer, Health P.E.I., to entice those nurses to stay, said Brookins.
“We need retention bonuses to stabilize the staffing and reduce the number that are leaving the system, or even moving within the system,” she said, adding that a $5,000 bonus is a third of the $15,000 it takes to bring a new nurse into the system.
“It’s a lot easier to retain 200 nurses than it is to recruit 200 nurse,” she said, adding later, “We’re letting a huge resource walk out the door by not focusing on how to keep them in the system.”
SaltWire Network asked Health P.E.I. for details on its retention spending for long-term care nursing, but did not immediately hear back.
However, Brookins says the desire for nurses to take the work-life balance into their own hands is the symptom of a larger issue.
“Health P.E.I. needs to address the root cause of the problem – the excessive overtime, inadequate and unsafe nurse-patient ratio, the inability to take time off and the toxic workplace culture.”
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