New Brunswick is losing young nurses at a faster rate than anywhere else in the country, according to a new report by the Montreal Economic Institute, an independent public-policy think tank.
For every 100 nurses who entered the profession in New Brunswick in 2022, 80 left before the age of 35, the report shows.
That’s double the national average, and 51 per cent higher than it was in New Brunswick a decade ago, said Emmanuelle B. Faubert, an economist at the institute and author of the report, released Tuesday, entitled, “Which Provinces Struggle the Most to Keep Young Nurses?”
It’s a “staggering number and very worrying when we know that the young nurses of today are the experienced nurses of tomorrow,” she said. “So losing them puts in jeopardy the future of our health-care system.”
There are several reasons nurses are leaving their jobs, said Faubert. Most are related to working conditions that affect job satisfaction, such as stressful environments, being overworked and problems with work-life balance.
Emmanuelle Faubert of the Montreal Economic Institute, an independent public policy think tank, says a new report from her organization reveals New Brunswick has the worst retention of young nurses in the country.
So while financial incentives might help attract more nurses and retain them for a bit longer, if the working conditions don’t improve, “it doesn’t matter how much they make,” she said.
“If they’re overworked, they will burn out and a burnt-out nurse, you can’t really expect them to last very long before they leave entirely.”
Where the nurses are going is unclear, said Faubert. The figures are based on unrenewed permits, so they could be leaving to work in another province or another country, or abandoning the profession altogether.
About 750 vacant positions
Paula Doucet, president of the New Brunswick Nurses Union, agrees the report’s findings are “very concerning,” particularly since the province is already facing “one of the highest vacancy rates we’ve ever seen,” with about 750 nursing jobs currently unfilled.
“It just really solidifies and validates the work that we’ve done at the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions in surveying our members across the country as well.”
The federation’s latest annual poll revealed that nine in 10 Canadian nurses consider themselves burnt-out, and four in 10 intend to leave the profession within the next year.
The Department of Health did not respond to a request for comment but said in a news release in July that the province has seen a net increase of 686 registered and licensed practical nurses since 2021.
Election promises of retention bonuses could help
The largest segment of New Brunswick nurses voted against a tentative collective agreement with the government shortly before the Oct. 21 provincial election was called.
Part 3 nurses, who work in hospitals, clinics and extramural care, and represent about 90 per cent of the union’s membership, rejected the deal by a margin of 59 per cent.
Health Minister Bruce Fitch has said the contract would have made New Brunswick nurses the highest paid in Atlantic Canada and fourth highest paid in Canada.
The union has long called on the province to focus not only on recruitment but also retention. The three major political parties have all promised, if elected, to offer retention bonuses.
That’s “part of the answer,” said Doucet. “But it’s also about the working conditions.
“In order to retain your staff, you need to be respectful of what they bring to the table, support them in furthering of their education, as well as helping to alleviate the.overstressed system that they’re working under right now.”
Should follow B.C.’s lead for retention
She hopes to see New Brunswick follow British Columbia’s lead, noting it’s the first province to implement minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.
It “gives an expectation of, you know, what a nurse is going to be walking into and the types of of clients that they’ll be caring for in the run of a shift,” said Doucet.
“I think that is the one of the most attractive things to a nurse, knowing that there is some safeguards in place for their workload.”
In addition, the B.C. government has a collaborative approach when it comes to health care, said Doucet. Nurses are “highly involved” in the discussion of ideas and implementations.
B.C. saw the biggest drop in young nurses leaving over the past decade, at about 32 in 100 in 2022, down from 47 in 2013, according to the institute’s report. B.C. also ranked second best in the country for retention in 2022 after Manitoba, which lost 29 young nurses for every 100 new ones.
Caution against ‘war’ on travel nurses
Doucet also wants to see a firm plan to phase out private agency nurses, also known as travel nurses, in New Brunswick, with that money being reinvested in local staff nurses.
New Brunswick spent about $173 million on travel nurses to fill gaps in the system, as of earlier this year. Vitalité’s three agreements with Canadian Health Labs represented the bulk of that at $98 million.
Such agencies charge rates of more than $300 an hour — roughly six times what a local staff nurse earns.
Horizon has said it no longer uses travel nurses, while Vitalité plans to stop using them by 2026.
Faubert’s report cautions against a “war” on travel nurses.
“While agency nurses might not have very good press these days, it’s important to note that they are what stood between New Brunswickers and more frequent service disruptions in recent years.”
It’s understandable why governments would want to reduce their reliance on nursing agencies, given their costs, she said, but it shouldn’t matter who nurses work for if they’re treating patients.
In addition, private agencies provide an “option of last resort” for public-system nurses seeking better working conditions and better pay, who might otherwise leave nursing altogether, said Faubert.
“If governments want to reduce their reliance on independent staff, they need to work on giving young nurses more flexibility to make working for the health-care system attractive to them once more.”