'We need action now': Pressure grows for province to implement training initiative to retain healthcare workers

A physician's stethoscope is shown in this file photo.

The Saskatchewan NDP, along with the Saskatchewan Association of Nurse Practitioners (SANP), are calling on the province to overhaul its current healthcare plan and implement a “Grow Your Own” training initiative to help keep nurses and doctors in Saskatchewan.

“Other provinces are finding ways for health workers to bridge into other opportunities like Ontario’s nurse practitioners bridging program for RN’s,” Sask. NDP MLA Vicki Mowat explained.

The province originally introduced a “Grow Your Own” initiative in 2014. However, according to the president of SANP, Tara Schmalenberg, the project never materialized.

Mowat said it is essential for the province to retain local nurses and doctors.

“Saskatchewan communities have a lot to offer and no one knows that better than people who are raised and living here,” Mowat said.

“The doctors and nurses who have grown up here are the most likely to stay here and make Saskatchewan home.”

Schmalenberg maintained that nurse practitioners are a vital aspect of the healthcare system.

She said she was disappointed to not see full-time jobs included in rural communities.

“Based on a recent survey we know that 35 per cent of nurse practitioners in Saskatchewan are employed part-time but would like to be employed full time,” Schmalenberg explained.

“Of those surveyed, nearly 10 per cent are not employed as a nurse practitioner at all due to lack of available jobs in their geographical area.”

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According to Schmalenberg, one in five do not have access to a primary care provider, that forces them to access care through the hospital emergency room.

“A ‘grow your own’ training program would help us train more healthcare workers and keep them where they're needed most would help ensure quality,” Opposition Critic for Rural and Remote Health Matt Love explained.

Love believes Saskatchewan must follow in the footsteps of other provinces and listen to healthcare workers.

“Other provinces like Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia have listened to their nurses and doctors and introduced incentives to train and better support homegrown health care workers,” he explained.

“After shuttering 37 healthcare centers in a single month, the Sask. Party government should be open to all solutions. We can't afford to lose more doctors. We can't afford to lose more nurses. We need action now.”

Nurse practitioners must be a fully licensed registered nurse (RN) and work a number of years in the field before they are eligible to apply to the nurse practitioner education program.

Acorrding to Schmalenberg, it is essential to make changes now to attract more nurses to the province.

“If we want to fill the gaps in healthcare we need to remember that we have nurse practitioners in communities who are not working as nurse practitioners because there is no job for them,” she said.

In a statement to CTV News, the Government of Saskatchewan outlined its overall strategy pertaining to nurse practitioners.

According to the government’s statement, nurse practitioner positions have increased from 195 to 320 and training seats have risen from 20 to 50 since 2014.

The province also outlined factors such as the Student Loan Forgiveness Program and the Graduate Retention Program that were implemented as incentives for Saskatchewan students to stay and work in the province’s healthcare system.

Other changes listed in the government’s response included changes to nurse practitioner’s scope of practice to include ordering and requesting medical imaging, as well as perform ultrasound imaging under specific circumstances.

“We will continue to work with the College of Registered Nurses of Saskatchewan (CRNS) on expanding the scope-of-practice for nurse practitioners to best utilize their abilities to stabilize and strengthen our healthcare system,” the government’s statement concluded.

The province also referred to its four-point action plan that is intended to help retain and attract more than 1,000 heath care professionals to Saskatchewan.