Editor's note: The following is an open letter to Premier Kathleen Wynne.
The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is concerned with the more than 10,000 RN positions currently vacant in Ontario hospitals.
Hospital patients are undoubtedly unstable with unpredictable health outcomes and, therefore, need their care provided by registered nurses.
Ontario has the worst RN-to-population ratio in all of Canada, with an average of 703 RNs for 100,000 people compared with the average of 839 per 100,000 in the rest of the country.
As Ontario moves towards the Patients First vision described by Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins, it is imperative that an appropriate number of RNs, working to their full scope of practice, be available in all sectors of the heath care system.
In many settings, RNs are being replaced by other care providers yet the evidence overwhelmingly links RN care to positive outcomes on numerous indicators. These include decreased mortality, increased quality of care, decreased pressure ulcers, and decreased infections.
RNAO, therefore, urges the Liberal government to commit to making RN staffing a health care priority and further commit to immediately posting and filling these vacancies.
Maria Casas
Policy and Political Action Liaison, RNAO Sudbury Chapter