Manitoba takes steps to woo ex-nurses back to profession

By: Danielle Da Silva Posted: 2:21 PM CST Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024 Last Modified: 5:56 PM CST Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024 | Updates

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MANITOBA’S health minister implored retired and former nurses to return to the beleaguered health system and promised that joining the front lines will be less of a burden than when they left.

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MANITOBA’S health minister implored retired and former nurses to return to the beleaguered health system and promised that joining the front lines will be less of a burden than when they left.

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MANITOBA’S health minister implored retired and former nurses to return to the beleaguered health system and promised that joining the front lines will be less of a burden than when they left.

On Wednesday, Uzoma Asagwara announced a suite of regulatory changes to make it easier for nurses who recently retired or quit practising to have their licences reinstated.

“We want you back. We want you back in health care,” Asagwara said at a news conference at the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara at the news conference Wednesday. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)

“It takes a very special person to pursue nursing as a profession and the caring and compassionate individuals that you are is valued by our government.”

The interim changes apply to former licensed practical nurses, registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses who have worked in Manitoba in the past five years and were in good standing with their regulatory college.

All three colleges — the College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Manitoba, the College of Psychiatric Nurses of Manitoba and the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba — reduced the number of recent practice hours required for reinstatement and will have more options to meet requirements for currency of practice. The changes take effect immediately.

Regulatory amendments that would make the changes permanent are expected to be in place this spring.

“What we’ve done here is provide nurses an opportunity to choose a pathway that works best for them that can help them scale up if that’s necessary and allow for them to join our health-care team in the ways they feel they can best contribute,” Asagwara said.

Deb Elias, registrar of the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba, said the changes serve and protect the public interest while maintaining a safe nursing practice in the province.

“We know that the current challenges and staffing nursing positions in the public system require an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Elias said.

It is not known how many retired and former registered nurses could qualify for reinstatement under the streamlined regulatory framework, she said.

“It takes a very special person to pursue nursing as a profession and the caring and compassionate individuals that you are is valued by our government.”–Uzoma Asagwara

The registrar was unable to say where the changes place Manitoba among the provinces when it comes to ease of reinstatement, but described Manitoba as comparable to other jurisdictions.

“There’s many nurses on the register who may or may not be employed in the system at this point, so it’s very difficult with the data that we have to get an exact number of how many former registered nurses could come back,” Elias explained.

Asagwara said the province will track the number of nurses who are reinstated under the new regulations.

While the relaxed regulations are expected to streamline reinstatements, Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said former nurses want to see systemic changes before returning to the bedside.

“Every nurse in this province who can work in nursing and chooses to do so should feel supported, valued and safe. I cannot emphasize this enough,” Jackson said. “Without these conditions in place, without strong leadership to uphold these workplace values, we will simply continue to lose ground and to lose nurses.”

Still, Jackson encouraged former and retired nurses to return to the profession, arguing the health system needs experienced, skilled nurses to mentor rookies.

“We have many, many new grads that are coming into our facilities and are feeling as if they are unsupported. They need that experience, they need those nurses there to support them,” Jackson said.

Asagwara said the culture shift promised by the NDP government is underway in the system even as nurses continue to raise alarms over severe staffing shortages, high-patient ratios, burnout, moral distress and toxic work environments.

“Every nurse in this province who can work in nursing and chooses to do so should feel supported, valued and safe. I cannot emphasize this enough.”–Darlene Jackson

Whereas nurses quit because of cuts, chaos and mistreatment under the former Progressive Conservative government, Asagwara said the NDP government has embarked on a health care listening tour, is taking steps to make workplaces safer, developing ways to better train people, and working with Indigenous communities.

“We are committed to working together as health leaders to make it easier for you to be part of our health-care workforce,” Asagwara said standing at a podium with a sign professing ‘We Love Nurses.’

“The culture in health care in Manitoba will be the best in Canada. That is how we’re going to retain staff, that is how we’re going to recruit and attract talent, and that is our mission here alongside partners.”

Former nurses interested in returning to the public system can contact their respective regulatory college for information on the new reinstatement criteria.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca

NDP listening to HSC safety concerns

Adding weapons and metal detectors to Manitoba hospitals is an idea worth exploring, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said.

“It’s important for us to take a look at all the options available to us,” Asagwara said Wednesday in response to calls from the Manitoba Nurses Union for enhanced security and safety measures at the Health Sciences Centre.

“Our government is here to listen, we are a listening government, and that means when people bring ideas forward about how we address concerns in our health-care system, we take those ideas very seriously.”

The union wants the provincial government to consider installing weapons scanners at HSC in response to ongoing incidents of violence at the trauma centre.

“You can’t check a book out of the Millennium Library or go to a (Winnipeg) Jets game without going through a metal detector, but you can pretty well walk in to any health-care facility in this province with a weapon and not be stopped,” said MNU president Darlene Jackson.

Recently, an unarmed security guard at HSC tried to calm down an agitated ER patient who had a pen knife. The guard was stabbed and the patient has been charged with assault with a weapon for the Feb. 22 incident, police said.

Asagwara said institutional safety officers, who can carry batons, handcuffs, aerosol spray and have some powers to arrest, will be in hospitals this spring.

“I know they’re going to make a difference,” Asagwara said.

Part of the solution is also creating a culture of safety at hospitals, Asagwara said.

“These are ongoing conversations that we’re having with the union, with front-line staff, with health leaders, with community organizations who do a lot of work around what safety means in hospital campus settings and others,” the minster said.

“We’re going to keep doing that work.”