Ontario investing in nurses to bolster healthcare
The Ontario government is investing $10-million dollars to increase the quality of healthcare in Ontario by helping more than 1,000 nurses upskill their training to provide emergency department care.
The announcement was made this morning, Wednesday, July 10, 2024, by Ontario’s Minister of Health Sylvia Jones. The investment is aimed at helping provincial nurses increase their skills and education, as well as to bolster, stabilize and maintain the nursing workforce in emergency departments across Ontario. The move will also benefit rural and remote hospitals in areas like the north of the province, who are struggling with doctor shortages and emergency room shutdowns.
“Our government continues to expand Ontario’s health care workforce and add thousands of new nurses to deliver high-quality care for people and families closer to home,” Jones said.
“This investment will break down barriers and provide more opportunities for emergency department nurses to grow in their career as we build a stronger, more resilient health care system for generations to come.”
The program aimed at helping Ontario’s nurses is called the Emergency Department Nursing Education, Retention and Workforce Program, and since its inception last year, the government says it has allowed more than 400 nurses from 72 rural and remote hospitals receive upskill training to allow them to work in emergency rooms in the province. The program enables access to education, particularly for nurses in small hospitals that do not have ready access to emergency department nurse education, or those in remote areas who would have to travel long distances to access training. The investment announced to day will allow more than 1,000 additional nurses working in these understaffed hospital emergency rooms to access four “crucial” training and education programs, which include:
• Virtual Training Modules to deliver high-quality, interactive sessions for general Emergency Department (ED) orientation, core competency skills and more. The government notes that 847 sessions were held over the last year for nurses from 72 small, rural and remote hospitals.
• Immersion Programs that provide multi-day, in-person, skills training to educate new emergency department nurses in small, rural and remote hospitals. Over the past yer, 53 nurses from 26 small, rural and remote hospitals attended three Immersion Programs and were able to access hands-on upskilling.
• Specialty Training Fund to provide training education grants to support nurses to complete training courses from for core ED nursing skills. Last year over 2,600 courses were funded to break financial barriers for nurses to upskill, and,
• Establishment of Regional Educator Program that will increase access to important continuing education and training resources for ED nurses in their region.
According to the government’s release, nurses in the province are responding positively to the move.
“Nurses are telling us this program is invaluable,” said Judy Linton, Executive Vice-President & Chief Nursing Executive at Ontario Health.
“They are able to effectively apply the content and skills learned in the course to their work, which is helping to ensure quality care to more Ontarians in emergency departments across the province.”
The government states that since 2018, it has seen more than 80,000 new nurses to the workforce, with an additional 30,000 nurses currently studying at Ontario colleges and universities, and has added an additional 24,000 new PSW’s to the workforce since 2020. Since the province made the move to allow registered nurses to prescribe medications, it has seen 122 registered nurses authorized to prescribe medications after meeting specific requirements, with close to 900 more prepared to take the required education.
“Supporting nurse education has a direct positive impact on quality of care and supports a high functioning health care team by increasing morale, improving teamwork, reducing scheduling gaps and building a reputation of excellence that drives recruitment and retention,” said Jill Colin, vice-president of Patient Care and Chief Nursing Executive for Orillia Soldier’s Memorial Hospital.
The government also notes that it is continuing to work with the College of Nurses of Ontario to break down barriers for internationally educated nurses through the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership, which provides internationally educated nurses the opportunity to demonstrate their current nursing knowledge, skills and language proficiency while working to meet the requirements to enter practice as a nurse in Ontario. The program has funded more than 3,400 internationally educated nurses since it launched in January 2022.
“The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) welcomes the government’s investments in training and educating emergency department nurses in rural and remote communities, which will help strengthen the health care workforce, enable nurses to advance in their careers, and ensure Ontario’s health care system is prepared for the future,” said Anthony Dale, the president and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association.
“Ontario’s hospitals appreciate the province’s continued commitment to building a strong health care workforce, which will help ensure patients continue receiving high-quality health care close to home.”
According to the government release, through “Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care,” the Ontario government continues to take bold and decisive action to support the province’s highly-skilled workforce and ensure people and their families have access to high-quality care where and when they need it, closer to home.
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