Nurses are not only the core and backbone of every health system, but they are also at the frontline of health care. With roughly 420 thousand workers,
make up the largest section of regulated healthcare professionals in Canada. The title “nurse” can only be held by professionals who are licensed or registered and each province or territory has their own regulations. There are four regulated nursing groups: licensed practical nurse (LPN), registered nurse (RN), registered psychiatric nurse (RPN), and nurse practitioner (NP). LPNs are also called registered practical nurses (RPNs) in Ontario. The level of education required for each type of nurse professional is different with LPNs usually having two years of post-secondary education, while NPs generally having a master’s degree in nursing.
How many nurses are there in Ontario?
Being the most populous province, Ontario boasted nearly 100 thousand
registered nurses in 2022. While the number of RNs have increased slightly in the past ten years, the rate of growth doesn’t compare to that of NPs. The number of
nurse practitioners in Canada has more than doubled in the past decade, increasing from approximately 3,500 in 2013 to 7,400 by 2022. Yet despite these increases, the supply of nurses in Canada, whether through graduates or immigrants (largely from the Philippines), does not match the rising demand in care. The nursing shortage is a real and current crisis in Canada. The
number of job vacancies among RNs and RPNs was over 28 thousand in Q1 of 2023. That is an increase of 5,500 compared to the same quarter in 2022, making RNs and RPNs the number one occupation with the largest annual increases in job vacancies in Q1 of 2023. Not only that, the top three occupations by increases in job vacancies were all nursing professionals. A survey from 2023 found that even the Canadian public was well aware of the shortage issue, with over 90 percent of respondents saying they were
concerned about the nursing shortage in Canada.
How much do nurses in Canada earn?
The
hourly wage of a registered nurse was 40 Canadian dollars in 2021-2022. Nurse midwives and NPs earned considerably higher, while LPNs and nurse aides earned considerably lower wages. There are
wage variations between the provinces however, with nurses in Quebec consistently having one of the lowest wages compared to other provinces. Meanwhile nurses in the far north usually receive financial incentives, which is reflected in the higher salary. Wages have hardly increased in the past few years, yet the workload, especially during the pandemic, has certainly increased. High levels of
workplace abuse including physical violence exacerbates the already high-stressed occupation. It is no wonder that more than a third of
Canadian nurses were considering leaving their job, or nursing entirely in 2023. There are no “quick fixes” for the nursing shortage in Canada, but solutions need to happen fast, before more nurses abandon ship.
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