Ottawa – For over three years, Canada’s health workers, including those working in public health, have been challenged like never before. This has led to unprecedented levels of burnout, absences, and turnover. These workforce challenges are not only affecting the hard working health workers we rely on, they are also affecting patients who are experiencing long wait times for surgeries, emergency room closures, and difficulty accessing family health services.
We know that without a sustainable, efficient, and resilient health workforce, Canadians cannot access and receive the quality care they need, when and where they need it. The Government of Canada is working with provinces and territories, as well as the Coalition for Action for Health Workers and other key partners to address health workforce challenges. Budget 2023 outlined the Government of Canada’s plan to invest close to $200 billion to improve health care for Canadians, which includes a focus on efforts to support a resilient health workforce through retention, recruitment, and planning. Additionally, it will support more team-based models of care and leverage new technologies to transform the health system in order to address the health workforce crisis.
As Canada’s largest group of health professionals with more than 400,000 members, nurses are critical to Canada’s health care system. That is why, building on Budget 2023 investments and to further support nurses specifically, Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, announced $2.4 million to the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) to support the implementation and evaluation of a National Nurse Residency Program.
This program, which includes competency-based workshops and mentorship, aims to support newly graduated registered nurses (RNs) by helping them effectively manage the transition from classroom to workplace. This national program, which runs until March 2027, is expected to improve the retention of newly graduated nurses in Canada and will include an evaluation component to fully assess its impact in this space.
While this initiative will help address workforce issues in the nursing field, the Government of Canada will continue working with provinces, territories, and key nursing partners to identify solutions to longstanding challenges so that nurses across Canada can continue their critical work of keeping Canadians healthy and safe.
“Improving our health care system includes addressing the challenges our nurses face across the country. This investment will help many nurses feel supported which will lead to better retention and recruitment. This in turn will help strengthen health care for all Canadians, as nurses play a crucial role in our daily wellbeing.”
– Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health
“New nurses need adequate supports to be successful as they integrate into the practice environment. CASN’s residency program is essential in ensuring that new nurses are retained in the health workforce. Providing a robust residency program for new nurses will foster professional growth and nurture a culture of continuous learning for ongoing professional success.” – Dr Leigh Chapman, Chief Nursing Officer of Canada