Key Takeaways:
- The New Brunswick government has increased financing for the nursing school at the University of New Brunswick.
- As part of the Nursing Resource Strategy, it will add 21 seats to the Bachelor of Nursing Program to create a mental health specialization.
- This is occurring against a backdrop of increasing ambulance unloading delays and a healthcare professional shortage.
In the face of growing ambulance unload delays and crucial emergency department staffing shortages, the New Brunswick government increases funding for the University of New Brunswick’s nursing school.
Dorothy Shephard, the Minister of Health, and Trevor Holder, the Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training, and Labor, announced an additional $1.48 million for the initiative.
It will create a mental health concentration within the Bachelor of Nursing Program, adding 21 seats as part of the Nursing Resource Strategy. It will also increase 20 seats in the nurse practitioner program.
“I’m encouraged by the success that has been made since the announcement of this strategy,” Holder said during the event. “The University of New Brunswick has played and continues to play a crucial part in the success of that strategy.”
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According to him, the nursing shortage has been a continuing issue.
“This problem did not happen overnight; it occurred due to several factors coming together to make a perfect storm,” he explained.
“It was partly since many of the players were not rowing in the same direction.”
The administration has been working on a new strategy to improve the healthcare system, but it has fallen short on concrete goals for recruitment and retention.
On Nov. 17, the plan was declared, and it included several significant reforms, including the invention of the New Brunswick Primary Care Network.
According to Health Minister Dorothy Shephard, the money for nurse practitioners will immediately help lower the number of individuals on the waiting list for primary care professionals.
Shepherd reassured the students in attendance at the event that there is employment available in the province for every graduate of the program and that the province is competitive enough to keep them.
“I believe we addressed that in our most recent talks and our most recent acceptance of those negotiations,” she continued, “so I feel we are very competitive.”
This is happening towards a backdrop of growing ambulance unloading delays and a shortage of healthcare workers.
Horizon Health Network tweeted on Wednesday that the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital’s main Fredericton emergency room couldn’t serve non-urgent cases owing to a significant staffing deficit.
According to Paula Doucet, nurses are stressed and overworked in the New Brunswick Nurses Union system president.
She remarked, “Those stressors have played a huge role both physically and emotionally.” “We know that many nurses have recently chosen to leave the profession.”
Approximately 41% of nurses are likely to retire in the next five years.
“I am glad, but it does not relieve the immediate stress or strain on our health-care system that we are seeing now.”
Source: Global News
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