Nurses have been called heroes throughout COVID-19, but that doesn’t mean they have superpowers to mitigate the harsh realities of stress and burnout that come with working on the frontlines of a pandemic. The impact of that strain reverberated through the profession earlier this year, when nurses across the province grieved the loss of RN Stefanie Van Nguyen, who died by suicide.

RNAO has maintained a close relationship with members and non-members alike since the beginning of the pandemic. The association took its support a step further when it launched a biweekly open forum for nurses to connect with one another, and then released its Work and Wellbeing survey to check in on nurses at this difficult and unprecedented time for the profession.

Launched at the end of January 2021, the survey generated responses from more than 2,100 Ontario RNs, NPs and nursing students. It aimed to examine the toll the COVID-19 pandemic has had on their stress levels, workload and overall wellbeing. It accomplished that and more.