The B.C. health minister says that setting a nurse-to-patient ratio is “the best practice around the world.
British Columbia will be the first province in Canada to use a nurse-to-patient ratio. This is part of the province’s plan to improve public health standards for work load.
The move is an important part of the tentative contract that the province and the Nurses Bargaining Association came to an agreement on last week.
Setting a ratio of nurses to patients, says Health Minister Adrian Dix, is “the leading international practice” for keeping nurses and giving good health care.
Lead negotiator and interim CEO of the B.C. Nurses’ Union, Jim Gould, said that the model used in B.C. will be similar to one used in Australia. It will set the minimum number of nurses that are needed in a care area.
“For example, if you’re in the ICU and you’re taking care of a patient who needs to be ventilated, the number we’ve reached there is one to one, which means one patient to one nurse and the best level of care,” Gould said.
Once it is in place, the model will be used by licensed practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, and registered nurses in all areas of care, such as hospitals, the community, and long-term care.
Dix says that the government will also work with the B.C. Nurses’ Union on a “national and international” recruitment plan, which will be supported by $750 million in new funding over the next three years.
Premier David Eby says that the new nurse-to-patient model will change how people are cared for and let nurses do what they do best.
Aman Grewal, the head of the nurses’ union, says that the change will not only help a health care system that is overworked and short on staff keep nurses, but it will also make things better for patients.
On April 20, the B.C. Nurses’ Union’s 48,000 members will start to vote on the new agreement.
The deal was made on March 31, and it includes “record-setting compensation” as well as a groundbreaking promise to support mandatory nurse-patient ratios.
Dix said that the lack of workers in B.C. is a “urgent” problem and that the province is working hard to both find and keep workers.
In January, Eby said that the province will pay fees for international nurses, help finance former nurses who want to go back into health care, and spend $1.3 million to set up a new path for internationally trained nurses and speed up the application process.
The tentative deal will also include a one-time fund of $100 million for “career laddering,” which will help nurses and other health care workers with experience move up in their careers in public health.
Dix said that the goal is to find a balance between work and life in nursing so that people can “make this a career” and not just “a job for a few years.”
“There are 9,620 people in our acute-care hospitals right now, but there are only 9,200 beds. So, it’s important to act quickly on health-human resources, such as nurses, health care workers, people who work in health sciences, and doctors.