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CASN conducts an annual nursing student and faculty survey. The number of new registered nurses entering the health care workforce has climbed steadily from a low of 4,816 in 2000. In the last five years, schools of nursing have been graduating more than 12,000 RNs annually, a higher number than has ever been the case.
This requires qualified faculty, experienced clinical instructors, well-equipped simulation labs, good library resources and appropriate clinical placement sites. Nursing faculty have been stretched to the limit, and clinical placement sites, which are essential to nursing education, are saturated. Additional nursing seats and nursing programs require more faculty, more resources and more clinical placement sites, which currently do not exist.
Canada's nursing schools are facing significant pressures and numerous challenges.
The quality of nursing education, however, is critical to the health and well-being of Canadians. Nursing is a complex and emotionally demanding profession. It requires an in-depth theoretical and scientific foundation, strong clinical reasoning skills, solid clinical judgment, honed technical skills, compassion, caring and emotional resilience. Nursing incompetence or a nursing error can put a patient's life in jeopardy.
The quality of nursing education is also critical to nursing retention. Studies demonstrate that nursing graduates lacking the appropriate academic preparation and lacking appropriate transition support when they enter practice are liable to leave the workforce within a year or two. Cutting corners to increase the number of nursing graduates does not produce a safe or sustainable nursing workforce.
There's an urgent need to increase the number of clinically competent, retainable registered nurses in the nursing workforce in all Canadian jurisdictions. There is also an urgent need to overcome significant obstacles if this is to be achieved.
Given the complexities of nursing education, nursing school administrators need to have a seat at the table.
Investment in nursing education and the inclusion of nurse educators in developing strategies to address the current health care workforce crisis are critical.
The areas of nursing education that offer potential solutions to a sustainable nursing workforce will be outlined.
Number one is to increase the number of new registered nurses without sacrificing quality through advanced-standing baccalaureate nursing programs for individuals who already have a degree in another discipline. These programs run throughout the full year with four terms instead of two and are therefore completed in two years without any reduction in the curriculum. There was a high demand for admission to these programs. Their graduates typically excel as nurses.
Number two is to increase the number of internationally educated nurses entering the nursing workforce through an increase in collaborative and more standardized bridging programs offered by post-secondary institutions.
Number three is to increase the clinical competence and the retention of registered nursing graduates by supporting their transition to practice through six- to 12-month residency programs. Multiple studies in the United States and Australia have shown that such programs increase safety and the clinical competence and the job satisfaction of new graduates, while reducing employers' turnover costs.
In conclusion, with investment in nursing education, collaboration among nursing education, governments and health care services, and a national commitment to conserve the high quality of nursing education that Canada is known for internationally, the nursing crisis can be resolved. The Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing is strongly committed to contributing to solutions.
On a positive final note, despite increasingly complex health care conditions, applications for admissions to baccalaureate programs in nursing across the country are very high. It's a testament to the potential tenacity of our future nurses.
Thank you for the opportunity to shed light on some of the issues related to nursing education and the nursing shortage, and to recommend solutions.
Thank you for your attention.