BURST
More than 100 U.S. nurses are headed north to help alleviate B.C.’s shortage of health-care workers, after the province announced a new program last month that takes advantage of the “chaos” south of the border by streamlining credentials.
Premier David Eby and Health Minister Josie Osborne said Monday that 113 nurses have already received their registrations to practice after the government made changes in April to make it easier for U.S.-trained health-care workers to work in the province.
They told reporters in Victoria that a total of 1,200 individuals have expressed interest, including 573 physicians, 413 nurses, 133 nurse practitioners and 39 other health professionals.
Of those 413 nurses, 177 have applied to the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives. The college has been able to use check with U.S. counterparts to review the employment and education history of those applying.
“American health-care professionals are increasingly drawn to B.C. as a place that supports in science, protects reproductive rights, and takes care of people no matter how much money they have in their bank account,” said Eby.
The province also announced that it will be starting an advertising campaign in June targeting health-care workers in Washington, Oregon and some cities in California, where the ministry says it has seen the greatest interest in moving to B.C.
Back in March, Osborne said the hope was that the credentialing changes would make it so that doctors and nurses can get their applications accepted within four to six weeks instead of the current five to eight months.
Health-care staff shortages have been an acute problem in the province for a number of years, with emergency rooms closing on a regular basis in rural and remote communities and over 700,000 British Columbians not having access to a family doctor as of January.
The B.C. College of Family Physicians has also warned that about 40 per cent of family doctors are planning to reduce their hours or retire over the next five years.
Last year, the province launched a similar campaign aiming to attract family doctors from the U.K. and Ireland. While the province has touted that program as a success, there has been no data released on the number of physicians who took up the call.
According to the Ministry of Health, B.C.’s nurse workforce has grown by 27.3 per cent since 2017, the highest among provinces based on statistics from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
More to come …
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