{"id":3366,"date":"2022-11-16T14:37:03","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T14:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forstaff.ca\/labour-shortages-personnel-infirmier-quebec\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T18:56:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T18:56:03","slug":"labour-shortages-personnel-infirmier-quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forstaff.ca\/en\/labour-shortages-personnel-infirmier-quebec\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour shortages – Personnel infirmier Qu\u00e9bec"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Labour shortages - Personnel infirmier Qu\u00e9bec<\/h1>
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The nursing shortage remained unchanged even before the Covid-19 pandemic, and was exacerbated after this incident by a number of factors.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In this article, we present the factors behind the labor shortage, its impact on employment agencies and the solutions adopted by the government to overcome this crisis.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1- Factors behind the nursing shortage <\/h2>
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An aging workforce, stagnant hiring of nurses for several years and a 77%<\/strong> increase in vacancies since 2015<\/strong> are among the main reasons why there are not enough healthcare staff to cover patients’ needs in Quebec. <\/p>\n

With the Covid-19 pandemic, the nursing shortage has reached a dangerous point. There are several reasons for this. <\/p>\n

Firstly, salaries<\/strong> are growing<\/strong> only slightly<\/strong> compared to the rest of the economy, with a horrible workload. <\/p>\n

Secondly, moral fatigue<\/strong> and depression given the incidents encountered with patients such as the use of ill-treatment, sudden death, the high number of deceased…<\/p>\n

Thirdly, nurses’ working conditions <\/strong>were characterized as arduous<\/strong>, given the compulsory overtime (TSO)<\/strong>, which is still highly rated in Quebec healthcare establishments to this day. Under this condition, nurses are often obliged to work 16-hour shifts, sometimes on successive days. <\/p>\n

And with the overflow of various services in Quebec healthcare establishments due to the Covid-19 pandemic, nurses’ working hours<\/strong> have increased from 6.6 <\/strong>extra weekly hours <\/strong>in April 2019 to 10.3 hours<\/strong> in May 2020. <\/p>\n

All these causes explain the nursing shortage. This has had a considerable impact on the number of vacancies <\/strong>, which now stands at 30,000, compared with 20,000 <\/strong>before the Covid-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n

Unlike Quebec’s healthcare institutions, this incident had a positive impact on employment agencies.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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2- The impact of the nursing shortage on employment agencies<\/h2>
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Given the unfavorable conditions in healthcare establishments: non-motivating salaries ($24.08 – $39.00)<\/strong>, compulsory overtime, etc., many nurses have turned to employment agencies for better working conditions for their employees, especially with the pandemic. <\/p>

This explains the considerable increase in the number of hours entrusted to employment agencies to 13.6 million<\/strong> hours<\/strong>, the equivalent of 7,500 full-time nursing positions <\/strong>.<\/p>

According to the statistical report on Quebec’s nursing workforce and nursing succession 2020-2021: 2,761 nurses<\/strong>, 90% of<\/strong> whom work exclusively<\/strong> for a private healthcare or personnel placement agency, and just 5%<\/strong> have a second job in the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS).<\/p>

Although placement agencies have attempted to partially resolve the nursing shortage, this is insufficient to cover the needs of the entire Quebec population.<\/p>

What solutions has the government adopted to solve this problem?<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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3- The solutions adopted by the government to overcome this crisis<\/h2>
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To deal with this crisis, the Ministry of Health and Social Services was given the mandate to recruit over 4,000 foreign healthcare workers, mainly nurses, to join the Quebec healthcare system.<\/p>\n

International recruitment for healthcare staff, mainly nurses, will take place in countries such as France, Belgium, the Maghreb, Brazil and Lebanon.<\/p>\n

From our point of view, we propose other solutions to retain and motivate healthcare staff, such as :<\/p>\n