60% of young N.S. nurses leaving province every year: report

Sixty per cent of Nova Scotia's young nurses are leaving the province every year, according to a new report by an independent think tank.

The Montreal Economic Institute says this province's performance in retaining nurses under the age of 35 is second to last — ahead of only New Brunswick, which the organization says is losing eight out of 10 young nurses.

"Nova Scotians shouldn't have to settle for a health-care system that burns out more than half of the new nurses that join it," said Renaud Brossard, vice-president of communications at the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI).

Nationally, MEI is reporting that for every 100 nurses that are trained in the country, 40 are leaving the profession before they turn 35.

Brossard said the institute collected its data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information. British Columbia has the best record. According to MEI's report, 31.5 per cent of young nurses are leaving British Columbia. That's down from 46.3 per cent over the course of the past decade.

Union head not seeing evidence of mass exodus

Some of the most commonly cited concerns among young nurses, Brossard said, are difficult work schedules and mandatory overtime. That's an issue the head of the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union doesn't dispute. Janet Hazelton also said violence on the job is a big part of the retention problem.

"We have too many nurses off as a result of a violent incident in the workplace," Hazelton said. "Those nurses are suffering, but also we're suffering because we don't have them in the workplace."

Still, Hazelton said she's seeing no evidence of the kind of exodus MEI's report suggests.

"Well, that doesn't seem to me to be accurate because I know overall there are more nurses working in Nova Scotia — full time — than there has been in the last five years."

Hazelton gives credit to the provincial government and the Nova Scotia Health Authority for attracting more internationally educated nurses. She said it has also become much easier for licensed practical nurses, or LPNs, to transition to registered nurses. They've also put programs in place to help continuing care assistants to transition to LPNs.

"So there's been a lot of work done in this province to make sure that we have robust nursing in this province, and we are seeing the results of it."

New nurses added to the system

According to the Nova Scotia College of Nursing, 12,738 registered nurses were licensed in 2023. That's a 17.9 per cent increase compared to 2022. Of those, 83.9 per cent are working in Nova Scotia.

The nursing college has licensed 6,788 nurses in Nova Scotia since Nov. 1, 2023, according to its own recently released data. This number includes:

• Nurses who were practising elsewhere in Canada (3,051).
   
• Nurses who were practising internationally (1,823).
   
• Newly graduated nurses from Nova Scotia (655).
   
• Newly graduated nurses from elsewhere in Canada (97).
   
• 1,162 reactivated licences (nurses returning to the system after a lapse in Nova Scotia College of Nursing licensure).

As a comparison, the college licensed 3,642 new nurses in Nova Scotia between March 29, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2023, at the end of the renewal season.

MEI stands by its analysis

But Brossard said MEI stands by its analysis. He said despite the growing number of nurses in Nova Scotia, young nurses are still leaving at a worrying rate.

"I think both claims can be correct at once," said Brossard. "There are more nurses than ever in the province. The numbers show that very clearly, but also the province is burning through them at a very high rate as well."

Linda Silas, the national president for the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, said the key to retention is establishing workable nurse-patient ratios.

The Nova Scotia Nurses' Union succeeded this year in getting nurse-patient ratios addressed in its most recent collective agreement.

"It's giving [nurses] the tools and the time to do their job," said Silas. "We're going in the right direction."