Resource can help employers 'enhance the current working conditions of nurses'
The federal government has provided a new resource to employers to help improve the workplace experience for nurses in the country.
The Nursing Retention Toolkit: Improving the Working Lives of Nurses in Canada details eight core themes with corresponding initiatives that nursing employers can implement to help improve retention.
Nurses are Canada's largest group of regulated health professionals with more than 450,000 members, according to the federal government.
"Nurses play a vital role in our healthcare system. We need to work together to make sure that nurses in Canada's healthcare system are supported and get more health workers into the system, faster,” says Mark Holland, Canada's minister of health. “The Nursing Retention Toolkit will provide employers and health administrators across the country with tools to build stronger healthcare systems and help nurses get the supports they need."
After the COVID-19 pandemic, 92 per cent of nurses said their workload increased over the last few years – a figure that is higher than it was at the height of the pandemic, the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario (WeRPN) previously reported.
What is the ideal work environment for a nurse?
The Nursing Retention Toolkit focuses on eight core themes with corresponding initiatives that nursing employers can implement to help improve retention. The eight core themes are:
- flexible and balanced ways of working
- organizational mental health and wellness supports
- professional development and mentorship
- reduced administrative burden
- strong management and communication
- clinical governance and infrastructure
- inspired leadership
- safe staffing practices
“Implementation of retention strategies is fundamental to assist in bolstering the nursing workforce in Canada. There are many initiatives underway across Canada to support nursing retention,” reads part of the toolkit’s implementation section. “The toolkit provides a framework that can be utilized as a key resource for employers and organizations to enhance the current working conditions of nurses and outlines many of the initiatives.”
For the toolkit to have an impact on retention, employers and health authorities are encouraged to:
- Share the toolkit through social media, emails, staff meetings, and with colleagues and other healthcare organizations;
- Connect with facilities and organizations throughout Canada that are highlighted in the toolkit as best practice initiatives; and
- Adopt and implement the best practice initiatives by focusing on the themes that have the most value for your organization or health authority.
The toolkit drew on evidence-based practices, the lived and living experiences of point-of-care nurses, and insights from nursing professionals at all career stages, including nursing students.
It will be shared widely throughout Canada's healthcare system – including with nurses, nursing employers, and health authorities across the country.
The toolkit provides an opportunity for employers and health authorities to work together to develop standardized programs across healthcare organizations and systems in Canada, according to the federal government.
"Nurses are the backbone of our healthcare system, yet too many in Canada are struggling with their mental health, experiencing burnout, distress and feeling overworked, and unappreciated, causing them to leave their jobs,” says Dr. Leigh Chapman, Canada's chief nursing officer. “This toolkit provides nursing leadership and health system administrators with an opportunity to contribute first-hand to making changes in our healthcare system, including improving mental health and wellness supports for nurses so they can stay mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy, and so that they can keep caring for us."
"Nurses are the heartbeat of healthcare , providing an essential and critical service to the patients and communities they serve,” adds Terri Irwin, chief nursing executive, Trillium Health Partners.
“Retention and burnout are some of the most pressing issues facing our industry today and we were honoured to have been involved in the development of the toolkit. To invest in nurses, ensuring that they are supported physically and emotionally in reaching their full potential, is to invest in the well-being of our communities for generations to come."
Previously, in hopes of addressing healthcare worker shortages in some parts of Canada, the federal government is increasing loan forgiveness for doctors and nurses working in under-served rural and remote communities.
Budget 2022 committed $26.2 million over four years starting in 2023–2024, and $7 million per year ongoing for the improvements in Canada’s health care system. In addition, through Budget 2023, Ottawa announced plans to expand the definition of rural communities to include all communities with populations of up to 30,000, starting in 2024–2025.
