More northern nursing programs, placements needed: RNAO report

Morning North6:25Shortage of nurse practitioners in the north

One in five nurse practitioner jobs in Northern Ontario are vacant according to a report from the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario. We spoke with Sudbury nurse practitioner Jennifer Clement about why clinics like hers cant keep nurses here.

A new report has come up with 23 recommendations on how to alleviate a nursing shortage in rural and northern parts of Ontario

The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario spent a year speaking with hundreds of nurses across northern Ontario and in rural communities around the province.

The report recommends ways to convincemore nurses to come and stay in northern and rural communities.

Many of the recommendations focus on providingmore northern nursing education programs and placingmore students in remote communities with the help of travel grants.

Establishing theNorthern Ontario School of Medicinehelped address the doctor shortage, and the same could work for nurses, saidLouisePaquette,Chief Executive Officerwith the NortheastLocal Health Integration Network.

"We know the success we've had with the medical school. That's demonstrated that we can grow our own. And when we grow our own we solve our problems."

More Franophone, aboriginal nurses needed

Puttingnurses through northern schools isn't enough, saidPaul Andre Gauthier,president of the Clinical Nurse Specialist Association of Ontario.

"In northern Ontario, if they don't have full-time jobs, the students when they graduate, they move away."

In northeastern Ontario, only 59 per cent of nurses are full-time. The report saidthat should be increased to at least 70 per cent.

The report also suggestedmore Francophone and aboriginal people must become nurses to better serve the needs of those populations.

There is a big need in the northeast for nurses who understand French and First Nations culture and language, and without them,the quality of care for these groups declines,Gauthiersaid.

"If the person does not understand what they are talking about, then the assessment will be wrong. The diagnosis will be wrong and the treatment also will be wrong and that's highly dangerous,"Gauthier said.