Nurses Must be Included in Plans to Improve Health Care

The BC Nurses' Union (BCNU) applauds the provincial government's recent announcements of a primary health care strategy and an investment of $115 million to fund the creation of 200 nurse practitioner (NP) positions and 30 new NP education seats. BCNU fully supports and welcomes nurse practitioners. Their roles are consistent with the expanded scope of practice for registered nurses who also can prescribe medication, order routine lab tests and direct patient care. "Registered nurses should be utilized in RN First Assist and RN First Call which are advanced primary care practices. Our hope is that the province puts measures in place to ensure that nurse practitioners do not become physician extenders but rather increase the capacity of primary care," said Christine Sorensen, President, BCNU.

This much needed investment in public health care services comes on the heels of other planned improvements recently announced by the BC government including a new surgical strategy, more MRI scans and the groundbreaking of a new nursing building at Thompson Rivers University. "It's wonderful that nursing students will be educated in a modern high-tech facility, but I want viable nursing jobs for them after they graduate", said Sorensen.

The government's own Labour Market Outlook (2017 edition) projects a need for over 23,000 registered and psychiatric nurses between 2017 - 2027. They are labelled as high demand positions amid a global nursing shortage that is currently being experienced in BC as well. A province that is also home to an aging population.

Data from the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions reveals that in 2016, overtime in the province was paid out to nurses at over $120 million. "The recruitment and retention of nurses in this province has been woefully inadequate. So much so, that BC nurses worked more than 42-hours a week in 2016," said Sorensen. In that same year, in Canada, nurse overtime cost the system over $785 million.

Understaffing and overcapacity in BC's health care facilities are directly associated with increased medical errors, poorer patient outcomes and an increased risk of violence. "It's that bad for nurses but there is a solution-political will. I am asking this government to ambitiously recruit and retain nurses, who are the back bone of the health care system," said Sorensen.