This year's theme for National Nursing Week is 'the power of nurses to transform health,' focusing on the impact of nurses in the health-care system.
National Nursing Week started Monday, May 12, and continues through Sunday, May 18.
"For a long time there has been a legacy of nurses being 'present,' but what you're seeing a shift of now is a recognition of the professionalism as well as solution-based discussions that nurses bring to every conversation they have," said Tristan Newby, B.C. Nurses' Union vice-president. "Whether that's with a client on their bedside, or that's with their manager, or at the ministry of health level."
Newby said one of the union's biggest priorities right now is implementing minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, addressing the number of nurses currently employed in the province through retention and recruitment.
"We are the largest workforce in health care and we know right now we're at a 6,000 nurse deficit in the province 鈥� and there are a significant number of nurses who are considering leaving the profession. For us to be able to provide the care British Columbians deserve, we need to be working in safe work environments."
The B.C. government has been facing these challenges by recruiting registered nurses from countries with comparable credentials, with a current focus on attracting nurses and nurse practitioners from the U.S. to work in B.C.
Josie Osborne, B.C.'s minister of health, and Susie Chant, parliamentary secretary for seniors' services and long-term care, issued statements in recognition of the week.
"Our goal is to make B.C. the best place in Canada for nurses to work. We are collaborating with nursing leaders and organizations like the B.C. Nurses' Union to establish minimum nurse-to-patient ratios," the statement noted. "These help create better working conditions for nurses and enhance the quality of patient care."
Newby said recruitment is "key" in addressing the nursing shortage, but also emphasized the importance of retention.
"You can recruit as many people as you want, but if the environment isn't sustainable you won't be able to keep them."
Valerie Grdisa, Canadian Nurses Association CEO, told the 亚洲天堂 Bulletin that across Canada, nurse retention is being challenged by several factors including workloads and moral distress that they can't provide the care they want to provide. She also suggested that processes could be better optimized.
"For instance, if you think in the north it's OK an RN prescriber or nurse practitioners or licensed practical nurses or whoever it might be are prescribing 95 per cent of the care with 鈥� docs or consulting docs, if it's good enough for the north it's good enough for the nation to have the right models of care that optimize the workforce," Grdisa said. "We feel that the governments have not been bold enough to actually do the policy reform that would be, at the end of the day, sound economic policy in these times to realize cost-savings as well as better optimize the workforce and enable them to their full scope."
For more information on nurse-to-patient ratios, visit the B.C. Nurses' Union website .
"If you know a nurse, congratulate them on their contribution鈥�" Grdisa said. "Just let them know you appreciate them and then obviously when they're lobbying or talking to their politicians or local decision makers, that we're treated as the highly valued resource we should be."
