New simulation tools open the door for objective nurse workload management — a missing key to a healthy health-care system.
In honour of National Nursing Week May 6-12, consider asking a nurse about their work life. Demand for nursing services in Canada far exceeds the current supply of nurses.
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Surveying more than 5,500 nurses about the realities of their work lives highlights how a shortage of nursing staff could compromise Canadians’ ability to access safe, compassionate care.
We now have a sensible pathway to improve access to health care, using the skills of nurses, pharmacists and GPs appropriately.
Two travel nurses talk on FaceTime with their 4-year-old son while working far from home at a field hospital set up to handle a surge of COVID-19 patients in 2021.
AP Photo/David Goldman
A new study found that temporary assignments in new places reignited nurses’ passion to help others and helped them rediscover the meaningfulness of their work.
Nurses say violence is treated as ‘part of the job’ or believe patients can’t be held accountable for their assaults if they are intoxicated or distressed.
Each encounter that health-care students have with patients and families helps them understand real-world patient needs. That means all Canadians have a role in educating future health-care providers.
Nursing homes in poorer neighborhoods tend to have more critical staffing issues.
10'000 Hours/Digital Vision via Getty Images
A strong commitment to improving things for the existing nursing workforce in the UK is essential to addressing this issue.
Recruiting health workers from countries on the World Health Organization’s safeguard list without robust and reciprocal benefits for the countries sending them does not meet ethical standards.
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Recruiting internationally educated health workers is a key part of Canada’s proposed solution to the health worker crisis. But there are ethical questions about recruiting from foreign countries.
Nurses of the University College Hospital protest in London on Feb. 6, 2023. The walkout is part of a wave of health worker strikes and demonstrations in recent months.
(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
U.K. health worker protests echo issues in Canada. They are also a harbinger of future labour disputes and systemic collapse if austerity, underinvestment and neglect of health workers continue.
Nurses who identify as Democrats have a significantly higher likelihood of having their children vaccinated against COVID-19 than those who identify as Republicans.
Sue Dean, Southern Cross University e Deb Massey, Southern Cross University
Burnout and ‘compassion fatigue’ can compromise patient safety and signal health worker exhaustion. And they are a ticking time bomb for health care.
Building safer workplaces requires leaders who understand how years of resource constraints, unhealthy work environments, abuse from patients and a pandemic have contributed to overwhelming burnout and job dissatisfaction among workers.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
The future of our health system depends on recruiting and retaining passionate and highly skilled health-care workers. It’s essential to build work environments where they feel supported and safe.
Research shows low male participation in the nursing workforce can stem from many sources, including reticence by career counsellors to recommend nursing as a career.
Adding more beds won’t fix emergency department pressures. Neither will one-size-fits-all processes. But improving patient flow and addressing staff shortages might.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne