Current Nursing Shortage - Saskatchewan

by Bev

The current nursing shortage in Saskatchewan has eased up somewhat (according to the government at least).

In 2006 the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses identified the need for 600 more nurses in the system. In 2007 that rose to 1,000 vacancies. The SNU implemented a system of reporting, so that nurses in all health care facilities would be reporting vacant positions on a regular basis.

At that time the provincial government acknowledged the nursing shortage and included $300,000 to be allocated to the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association to help them process applications from internationally educated nurses more quickly.

Saskhealth has written in the provincial government release A Report on the Nursing Shortage (2008) that the province had "turned a corner" in stabilizing the nursing workforce. This is probably because SaskHealth has been actively recruiting nurses from the Philippines for the last few years.

In fact in 2009 there were more internationally educated nurses in Saskatchewan writing the Canadian Registered Nurse Exam than those who were educated within the province, so apparently the recruitment is getting more nurses into the system.

The Saskatchewan Nurses' Union warns however, that with large numbers of the nursing workforce coming up for retirement they might experience nursing shortages again very soon.

Here is a video about internationally educated nurses who came to live and work in Saskatchewan.


Read the agreement between the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses and the government about the Current nursing shortage and some solutions.(signed in 2008)