‘Worrisome’: Quebec health network struggling to hold on to young nurses, says new report

For every 100 new nurses in Quebec, 43 are leaving the profession before they turn 35.

That’s according to a new report from research think tank the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI).

Quebec ranked fifth in Canada, with 43.1 young nurses leaving for every 100 entering in 2022 – 29 per cent higher than in 2013.

Across Canada, the average is 40 young nurses leaving the profession for every 100 who entered it in 2022.

“A gigantic number for any profession, but especially in a profession where we keep saying where we have shortage, it’s extremely worrisome,” says Natalie Stake-Doucet, registered nurse and assistant professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the Université de Montréal.

“This exodus of young nurses has been worsening for the past decade, contributing to our health care woes,” said MEI economist and report co-author Emmanuelle B. Faubert.\

The report also found nurses who expressed a desire to quit their current position were also more likely to express interest in working for an independent nursing agency, like Melanie Boulerice, who owns Nomadic Nurse Agency and worked in the public system for 12 years.

“I had to think of a quality of life I needed to create for myself, and while doing the job that I still love,” she said. “We can talk about how, ‘Why don’t we just leave the profession entirely?’ I’m not going to lie, there’s times that I’ve thought about that.”

She says she’s witnessed nurses both switch to private health care or quit the profession entirely.]

“I’ve seen us lose nurses to Costco and Starbucks because the salary makes more sense and the benefits make more sense with the labour of work that we’re doing,” she said.

“It takes many years, almost 10 to 15 years to reach the top of the pay scale, which is a very long time,” Stake-Doucet said. “It gives you a lot of time to think and look at other options.”

For nurses who received their licenses after Dec. 2022, their salary starts at the lowest pay scale, regardless of education level, compared to the past when those with university degrees would be paid more.

“That’s definitely a factor contributing to why a nurse would leave the profession,” said Samantha Wiesenfeld, a registered nurse with Master of Science (Applied). “Because it’s not giving you room for growth within the profession and being compensated for that growth.”

Nurses also say the ability to provide optimal care has deteriorated.

“There’s a lot of risks that you encounter, whether it’s potential unsafe work conditions, staff to patient ratios, these are things that puts your well-being and your license on the line every day. It’s a very high-risk environment and profession,” said Sydney Wasserman, a registered nurse clinician and a PHD nursing student.

This comes as the FIQ nurses union has been without a contract for over 500 days and their 80,000 members, who will vote on the conciliator’s proposed collective agreement in mid-October.

“Everything seems to be based on seniority, and for new nurses that seems scary because it doesnt provide a lot of stability in our workplace,” said Wiesenfeld, pointing to the fact that nurses may be moved to different care centres.

“I think that would be a big deterrent for nurses who would want to sign on to this collective agreement,” she said.

MEI estimates Canada will have a shortage of 117,600 nurses by 2030, with some calling it a crisis.

“We’re having a hard time keeping nurses nurses have a good reason to leave so we need to give them good reason to stay,” said Stake-Doucet.

Faubert says in Quebec, part of the problem is the provincial government passing a bill to limit independent nurse staffing agencies last year.

“By forcing nurses back into the government-run system and away from nursing agencies, we risk seeing a lot more of them contemplate a career change,” she said.

A recent survey by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions suggested nurses were leaving their current job, or the profession altogether, because of mandatory overtime and a lack of shift flexibility.

“If governments want to reduce their reliance on independent staff, they need to work on giving young nurses more flexibility to make working for the healthcare system attractive to them once more,” Faubert said.