To highlight the current state of nursing in Ontario and the unrelenting resilience of nurses, RNAO marked Nursing Week 2022 (May 9 – 15) with the theme “Nursing Through Crisis.” Throughout the week chapters, regions without chapters, interest groups and the home office, hosted a variety of engaging virtual events to showcase and celebrate how nurses shine during the best and most challenging of times in order to care for others. All of the events are profiles on RNAO’s Nursing Week portal.

From nursing students to early, mid and late career nurses in varying roles across health sectors, RNAO’s events aimed to engage and inform.

The week began with a session about politics as a career choice in nursing, featuring some of the RN and NP candidates running in the June 2022 election. RNAO’s Kingston chapter also hosted an all-candidates debate on May 12, allowing candidates a chance to share how their parties will tackle issues including the nursing crisis, homelessness and nurses’ and nursing students’ mental health. “Ontario is going through a nursing crisis. We entered the pandemic with a shortfall of 22,000 RNs. The stress and burnout of COVID-19 has resulted in a shortage of RNs in all sectors,” said Debra Lefebvre, RNAO Region 9 board representative. To learn more about the event, read the local coverage in The Kingston Whig Standard.

A special Nursing Week edition of RNAO’s monthly COVID-19 Webinar Series came next, with a focus on post-pandemic initiatives. Many guest speakers throughout the week led inspiring discussions about careers in nursing and how to apply research into nursing practice. Events tailored to jobseekers were also offered through an RNCareers.ca presentation and one-to-one resume review sessions.

To mark Florence Nightingale’s birthday and to recognize nurses’ contributions to health care during the pandemic, RNAO, the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario and Ontario Nurses’ Association held the third annual Nursing Now Ontario Awards ceremony. NP Guangxia Meng, RN Marisa Bannavong and RPN Becki Lee were this year’s inspiring recipients.

In an effort to highlight its projects and initiatives to mobilize change where it’s needed in the profession, RNAO hosted a media conference to release its Nursing Through Crisis: A Comparative Perspective report, as well as the nurses’ health and wellbeing In Focus theme web page.

With hundreds of participants, RNAO’s Nursing Week events provided a forum for many rich discussions related to the current state of the profession, nurses’ health and necessary steps to improve health for all.

In an official Nursing Week message authored by then RNAO president (now immediate past president) Morgan Hoffarth and CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun, the message was clear: “You have carried Ontarians through this crisis. Together, we have carried one another. It is this strong commitment that gives us hope for brighter days to come.”

RNAO says that Premier Doug Ford should have addressed the challenges in the health system, including nursing shortages, in January 2022 by instituting added public health measures. Instead, the premier’s measures – which included halting indoor dining at restaurants as well as reducing capacity limits for restaurants and shopping malls to 50 per cent – did not address the ongoing nursing crisis. RNAO says patients will pay the price. “It is a blow to the thousands of Ontarians who are awaiting diagnostic tests, procedures and surgeries, and who will need to wait even longer with inevitable increases in morbidity and mortality,” said RNAO President Morgan Hoffarth. If the premier and chief medical officer of health had listened and acted earlier, the impact of Omicron on hospitals and other health-care settings could have been avoided, Hoffarth added. (Durham Radio News, Jan. 4)

RN Wendy McNeil has worked in various critical care settings for the past 40 years. On Dec. 12, the long-time RNAO member resigned from her job at Sudbury’s Health Sciences North. McNeil said this decision was a long time coming: “I could see myself, as well as my colleagues, feel like (we’re) drowning.” In an open letter on Facebook, McNeil shared that the current state of the health-care system makes her feel unable to meet the bare minimum standards of safety. She said nurses often have to redirect their focus to deal with other duties, including answering phone calls, cleaning, porter duties and navigating complex social work issues. McNeil is worried for younger nurses who are in distress and aren’t being heard. She also notes that the nursing situation was already in trouble before the pandemic: “This pandemic was just the crack that made the big crevasse. Health care has been an ongoing issue for a long, long time.” RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun responded to McNeil’s letter: “It’s a story of disregard of nursing and nursing as a profession that repeats and repeats.” (CTV Northern News, Dec. 31)

St. Lawrence College is offering a new, four-year bachelor of science in nursing degree. This is part of Ontario’s recent change to allow universities and colleges to offer their own baccalaureate degrees in nursing to increase opportunities for students. The first cohort of nursing students at St. Lawrence College began in September 2021.

As part of its investment to increase enrolment in nursing education, the provincial government is providing up to $876,928 to St. Lawrence College. This investment in the nursing program will support the training of 48 practical nursing students and 48 bachelor of nursing students.

“The ability to grant our own nursing degree brings an important credential to regions where St. Lawrence College is located, and this funding will help us train more nursing professionals at a time when the need is high,” said Glenn Vollebregt, president and CEO of St. Lawrence College. The ministry of education has also approved bachelor degree programs in nursing for Humber College, Georgian College and Seneca College.

The Omicron variant, paired with a shortage of nurses due to burnout and Bill 124 (legislation which caps wage increases for nurses at one per cent – well below inflation), has created a dire situation in Ontario hospitals. RNAO member and ICU RN Birgit Umaigba said she and her colleagues are under intense pressure. Brampton General Hospital and Brampton Civic Hospital both declared a Code Orange on Jan. 4. Umaigba explained that this code, which is generally used for disaster scenarios, is being called for a severe nursing shortage. “This is a crisis that is going to take lives. People are going to die because of a nursing shortage,” said Umaigba. Patients are not getting the quality of care they deserve because there are simply not enough nurses, she said. “We can’t have nurses working 16 hours in a row. Nurses are being guilted into working 16 hours. These are people who have to go home to their loved ones, but they’re forced to stay at the bedside.” (CBC News, Jan. 4)

Throughout the pandemic, telemedicine and virtual visits have become common ways for members of the transgender and non-binary community to access primary care services, including gender-affirming hormone therapy. RN Robyn Hodgson, a trans woman, runs the InterCommunity Health Centre’s Transcare clinic in London, Ontario. She agreed that virtual transgender care is clinically appropriate and can have some valid applications, but noted there are circumstances where in-person care is required. This is particularly true for post-surgical assessments, she said. Telemedicine can play a role in these assessments, but should not replace them. “I’ve had patients send me photographs of their surgical sites…which can help when they have questions or concerns and (can aid in determining) whether an in-person visit is warranted,” said Hodgson. (Healthy Debate, Nov. 1)