Quebec launches two programs to boost the hiring of health workers

The province wants to have 3,000 more administrative staff and 2,000 more nursing assistants.

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Quebec has launched an intensive recruitment effort for auxiliary nurses and clinical administrative staff in an effort to replicate the success it had with nurse recruitment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Health Minister Christian Dubé and Education Minister Jean-François Roberge announced on Wednesday the creation of scholarships and accelerated training programs to attract 3,000 clerks and 2,000 nursing assistants.

Dubé said fixing the labor shortage is an important step in “changing the culture” in the healthcare system.

Those who sign up for administrative agent training will receive a $ 4,000 scholarship if they promise to work for at least one year, while those who train to be nursing assistants will receive $ 20,000 in three installments if they promise to work at least two years.

The scholarships will cost the government $ 14 million and $ 48 million, respectively.

Administrative agents will take care of the nurses’ administrative tasks, which take up too much of their time, Dubé said, giving them more time to devote to caring for patients. Your training, normally 400 hours, will be compressed into 240 hours, or about two months. Quebec hopes to begin integrating them into emergency rooms, CHSLD, home care, mental health and other healthcare institutions starting next summer.

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For nurse aides, accelerated training programs will begin in January. The 1,800-hour training requirement is maintained, but can now be completed in 14 months instead of 22. Quebec expects to have this cohort in the system by March 2023.

Scholarships and accelerated training programs will be available in all regions of Quebec.

The Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec, which represents the majority of auxiliary nurses in Quebec, criticized Dubé for the ad, saying he is acting “alone and in a silo” by not consulting unions. In a statement, he said that the government is avoiding the “crucial issue of poor working conditions and the lack of recognition of the auxiliary nursing profession in health teams.”

Meanwhile, the teachers are also half-hearted. The Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE) said that the training of auxiliary nurses “is already too busy” and speeding up the schedule “would greatly increase the pressure on students, whose capacity for daily learning of such complex content is not unlimited. “.

The ESF said the dropout rate is already very high in this program in its current duration.