[CUPE healthcare list] Number of RNs and other nurses in Canada rises by 9 per cent: CIHI report

[Jennifer Whiteside <jwhiteside@cupe.ca>]

Number of RNs and other nurses in Canada rises by 9 per cent: report
Canadian Press 
Thu Dec 9 2010 
Section: National general news 
TORONTO _ Canada's nursing workforce has grown significantly in the last five years but still falls short of the level the profession had achieved two decades ago relative to the population, says a report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

The CIHI report shows Canada gained more than 27,000 nurses between 2005 and 2009, bringing the total of regulated nurses to about 348,500 _ a nine per cent increase. Over the same period, the country's population grew by five per cent.

Three-quarters of the nursing workforce is made up of registered nurses, followed by licensed practical nurses and registered psychiatric nurses.

Over the last five years, growth in the number of RNs and LPNs has exceeded population growth, while the growth rate for registered psychiatric nurses has kept pace with the increase in population in the western provinces where they are regulated and work.

However, statistics show there are actually fewer registered nurses today relative to the size of the population than there were 20 years ago. In 1992, there were 824 RNs for every 100,000 Canadians, compared to 789 per 100,000 in 2009.

``In the mid-1990s, with cuts to health-care budgets across Canada, we saw reductions in the numbers of nurses and other health-care professionals working in this country, as governments implemented hiring freezes and early-retirement packages,'' Michael Hunt, CIHI's director of health workforce information services, said Thursday in a release.

``Despite reinvestments in health care over the past 10 years, the ratio of nurses to the Canadian population has still not returned to what it was in the early '90s,'' said Hunt. ``In contrast, the number of physicians relative to the size of the population is now at an all-time high. (A CIHI report last week found physician numbers rose 4.1 per cent last year.)

Even so, the Canadian Nurses Association said it is pleased to see the country tackling the nursing shortage, which is expected to improve access to care while decreasing wait times.

``This is encouraging news for the nearly five million Canadians who don't have regular access to primary health-care providers,'' said CNA president Judith Shamian, noting that an increasing number of Canadians are receiving care from nurse practitioners.

The report shows there are more than 266,000 registered nurses practising in Canada, six per cent more than five years ago. However, most new RN positions are in hospitals, and the association believes more resources should be dedicated to primary care, community care, and health-promotion and illness-prevention activities.

``Bringing care closer to home and placing an emphasis on prevention, early diagnosis and treatment are proven strategies that avert costly hospital stays down the road, freeing up beds and reducing emergency room bottlenecks,'' said Rachel Bard, CEO of the Canadian Nurses Association, the body that represents registered nurses.

``Similarly, CNA would also like to see a shift in investment towards long-term care, home care and chronic disease management,'' Bard said.

The CIHI report also found that the number of nurse practitioners more than doubled between 2005 and 2009 to nearly 2,000, but the specialty still represents less than one per cent of the nursing workforce.

``Nurse practitioners are an emerging specialty,'' said Carol Brule, CIHI's manager of health human resources. ``They receive an education in health assessment, diagnosis and management of illness and injuries, and they have responsibilities that include ordering tests and prescribing medication; they are a small but increasingly important group.''

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