New Brunswick nurses on the brink of collapse, union says after survey

A survey of thousands of New Brunswick nurses found they have little confidence in the province's ability to make their working lives more bearable, union officials said Wednesday.

And a punishing "culture of acceptance" is to blame for how far conditions have deteriorated, they said.

"If this was not a predominantly female occupation, would things have gotten this bad?" Cathy Rogers, research and education officer with the New Brunswick Nurses Union, asked at a news conference called to release results of a survey of nurses.  

"Would it have taken this long to prioritize the supports and need for more nurses and to take care of the nurses that we have already?"

More than 4,185 registered nurses and nurse practitioners responded to the survey and sent the message feel their working conditions aren't safe, and things aren't changing, said Rogers, a former Liberal MLA.

But nurses are now standing up for themselves, said Paula Doucet, president of the union representing close to 9,000 nurses.

"As a predominantly female profession, I think over the years that nursing has, more or less, just to follow the rules," she said. "However, nurses are finding their voice to say enough is enough." 

The Nurses Association of New Brunswick says 94 per cent of nurses were women as of four years ago.

In the survey, nurses cited long hours, critical under staffing and unsafe conditions as major factors in problems finding and retraining nurses.

The survey data collection was collected during June 2021. The union did not represent licensed practical nurses until after Oct. 8 2021.

At a glance, the survey results reinforce hard truths about the quality of health care in the province. For instance, 91.73 per cent of nurses who responded said that over the past three years, the quality of health care overall has gotten worse.

Testimonies were also gathered, and nurses offered stories of the challenges that come with the job.

One nurse responded to the survey: "Feeling chest heaviness while we're running through the hallways and pee dribbling down my leg is not even a humane job ... We are forced to work like this because we are always so short-staffed."

In just six months, nurses were recorded as working over 292,000 hours of overtime, with shifts of at least 16 hours not uncommon.