The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities is calling on the provincial government to do more regarding the staffing shortages when it comes to healthcare in rural Saskatchewan. The first step they are asking the province to take is the reinstatement of the Grow Your Own Nurse Practitioner Program.
“We know we have some issues out in rural Saskatchewan in regards to getting enough nurse practitioners in small communities where there aren’t any currently right now,” said SARM president Ray Orb. “That’s an issue for people that live on the ranches and the farms, obviously, that could use the services of a nurse practitioner but don’t have access to one unless they travel, in most cases, longer distances to get to larger urban centres, and in particular, cities.”
Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who have additional education and nursing experience, who have the ability to autonomously diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, prescribe medications and perform medical procedures.
“We are starting to see Nurse Practitioners being added to teams in hospitals, cancer care centers, walk-in clinics, and many other areas where there is a gap in services,” said Johanne Rust, the President of the Saskatchewan Association of Nurse Practitioners. “Nurse Practitioners are a great solution to improving access to care. We are autonomous; meaning that we work under our license and regulations and can work in many clinical areas with minimal supervision. Nurse Practitioners can effectively manage most needs of their patients and refer anything more complicated to specialists or doctors as appropriate.”
In 2014, the provincial government introduced the Grow Your Own Nurse Practitioner Program. The program provided wages and benefits for registered nurses while they took their nurse practitioner training with a five-year return of service agreement for their home region. As well, a team of nurse practitioners was set up to provide itinerant services as needed in communities without nurse practitioners, and there were incentive grants for those practising in hard-to-recruit locations. The program, however, never materialized.
Orb noted there are people who have the skillsets needed who would be able to take the training to become a nurse practitioner, who want to come back to their community. This works out well, he said, as this means families stay in these rural locations, as opposed to having to relocate in order to get employment.
The release from SARM came just a day after the Canadian Institute for Health Information released a study that showed the number of registered nurses in rural Saskatchewan had declined by 22 percent from 2018 to 2022.
“I haven’t actually seen that statistic, but it’s not surprising, because I know many people were forced to leave the places where they live to relocate, and I guess we’re trying to do the opposite – we're trying to keep them in their communities,” Orb added.
The issues about rural healthcare, and the staffing shortages, are expected to be raised with the provincial cabinet themselves on May 14th during the Bear Pit Session at the SARM annual convention in Regina.