A $400,000 injection of federal funding announced Tuesday will allow UNBC researchers to take the lead on the next phase of a national study to examine nursing practices in rural and remote regions of Canada.
The ultimate goal of the two-year research project, which will have input from all 10 provinces and three territories, is to try to identify better ways to recruit and retain nurses to tackle the chronic problem of nursing staff shortages in smaller centres.
"We see skills shortages across the country and we, as a federal government, see the need to address these shortages in a big way, especially with health services," said Bob Zimmer, MP for Prince George-Peace River.
"UNBC is leading this study countrywide, which really says something about UNBC and what they're capable of, and how much they are trusted on a federal level. We want to see this study effect change in the future, and it sounds like Northern Health is willing to take that on."
The new study is the continuance of a national research project that started at UNBC 10 years ago, which focused on registered nurses working in rural areas. Headed by Martha McLeod, chair of UNBC's school of nursing, the new study will be broadened to examine working conditions for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nurse practitioners, and registered psychiatric nurses. The survey will help develop new policies to make rural and remote positions more attractive to new recruits and has the potential to influence human resources practices across the country.
"Part of our previous study looked at which nurses are most likely to leave communities and which were most likely to stay, and our findings are showing that people who grow up in small communities stay in small communities," McLeod said.
"There was not information like this in Canada before. That last national study had such good success and there was a real sense that it needed to be updated. What makes the best connection here is our overall collaboration with Northern Health. That allows us to be current in what's important and it will allow us to focus our questionnaires in the right way."
Some rural hospitals have only two nurses working during a shift, which is much different than the setting of an urban hospital like UHNBC, where there are staff is several departments working at any one time to provide backup support. McLeod said in some emergency cases, like the Burns Lake mill fire last month, nurses have to rely on volunteers to handle some duties under instructions from the nurse.
UNBC will work closely with staff from the Northern Health Authority in its study. McLeod, the project lead, said there will be local employment for a research co-ordinator, two research assistants and part-time student assistants.
Suzanne Johnston, chief nurse executive at Northern Health, said McLeod's initial study led to the development of the Northern Health/UNBC rural nursing certificate program, which now has 108 student nurses enrolled. Johnston said having a program specifically geared to developing skills in rural areas has helped those student nurses gain confidence in their jobs, which has helped improve retention rates.
"A unique feature of rural communities is the strength of a multidisciplinary team and my ability to call on my team members as I need them to support me in practice," said Johnston, a former rural hospital nurse. "We live together, we work together, we go to the same grocery stores, people know us, so there's a piece of trust that communities have in us as health professionals that keeps people practicing in rural communities."
