Nova Scotia’s internal travel nurse program is off to a slow start, but officials say that’s by design.
The program, promised by the Progressive Conservatives in the last provincial election and long called for by the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union, launched earlier this spring.
Although the goal is to have 30 registered nurses participate in the yearlong pilot that right now is based at the Aberdeen Hospital emergency department in New Glasgow, so far eight people have been hired and either started working or will join the team in the coming months.
Jennifer MacDougall, a director with Nova Scotia Health whose responsibilities include nursing engagement strategies, said some of the people who applied did not have the necessary background to meet the hiring criteria. Other applicants were interested in casual work, but right now the posts are for permanent full-time work.
Because the pilot is focused on emergency departments, applicants must have three years of work experience and the training required to work in emergency medicine. Internal candidates cannot apply if being hired would mean leaving their previous unit short-staffed.
But even given all those factors, MacDougall said the advice officials in Nova Scotia received from provinces such as British Columbia and Manitoba where similar programs already exist was to ease into things.
“They consistently said, ‘Just start small, let it grow.'”
MacDougall said there will be ongoing promotional efforts to attract more people to apply.
The purpose of the program is to try to reduce the province’s reliance on nurses from private agencies and create another work option that could be attractive to some nurses who would prefer not to be tied to a single site.
Like most provinces, Nova Scotia spends millions of dollars a year on agency nurses to buttress a system that struggles with staffing shortages.
Along with the cost, there can be other complications. Because agency nurses make a much higher hourly rate than the staff nurses they work alongside, it can create morale issues. There are also instances where the travel nurses do not have the necessary background to fit seamlessly into the unit where they are working.
Sandra Mullen, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, said that isn’t an issue with members of the internal travel team because they’re Nova Scotia Health employees who have passed a screening before being deployed and are already familiar with the system.
“By having experienced nurses walk in beside you, you the nurse who is already on the floor is going to feel better about that,” she said.
“This is an NSH employee who has access to everything and I don’t have to train this person.”
Nurses on the internal travel team are paid an additional $6 an hour above their base hourly rate or an additional 15 per cent, whichever is higher. Although that’s less than an agency nurse, internal team members have access to benefits and a pension because they’re employees of the health authority, something not afforded to private agency nurses.
Along with the pay premium, accommodations are covered while the nurses are working in New Glasgow and, if their drive to get there from their home is more than 75 kilometres, they’re paid for travel.
MacDougall said right now most nurses are choosing to do four shifts and then take five days off.
Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union president Janet Hazelton said the work flexibility, along with the higher pay, will be attractive for some people, but she believes the biggest draw will be the ability to get more time off.
Rather than the traditional 75-hour pay period, Hazelton said members of the travel team could do 90 hours or more. The extra hours are banked so they are able to have more time when they’re not working without having to dip into vacation time.
“That would be the thing that is attracting nurses is guaranteed time off,” she said.
As the pilot progresses, Hazelton said a key aspect will be finding the balance between ensuring nurses are getting enough hours to get the extra time off they want and ensuring no one is working to the point it becomes unsafe.
“So I think the scheduling is going to be the issue that’s either going to make or break this.”
MacDougall said consideration will be given to expanding the program to other sites during the pilot, but no decisions have been made yet. Mullen believes more nurses would be interested in applying if the program expands beyond emergency departments.
