Ontario RNs start recruiting in elementary school

Ontario is so short of nurses that the province‚s students are being targeted by an unprecedented recruiting drive that is even setting its sights on elementary schools. The campaign is the first of its kind in Canada.

The province‚s 5 major nursing groups — the provincial college, the professional association, 2 unions and the organization representing registered practical nurses — received $500 000 from the province to pursue recruitment. The Joint Provincial Nursing Committee, headed by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, is compiling a recruitment package for every high school career counsellor including slides and a linked Web site. Initially, they have given each counsellor 100 copies of a special issue of the College of Nurses of Ontario public newsletter, Nursing and You, that is devoted exclusively to recruitment. The 8-page newsletter explains the ”science and art” of the profession and different career possibilities. It notes that less than 60% of Ontario nurses work in hospitals.

The nursing groups also plan to begin recruiting in elementary schools. ”Many students make up their minds in Grade 5 and 6 about what they will do,” says Mary MacLeod, president of the college (www.cno.org), which represents all 140 000 Ontario registered and practical nurses. ”We need to go back to the primary grades and recruit at that age.”

MacLeod says the underlying problem in recruitment is that many guidance staff hold misconceptions about nursing. ”Nursing is not what you might have thought,” she said. As evidence, she points to the broader scope of practice and the move toward more education — all Ontario nurses will need a university degree by 2005. The groups are also trying to attract more men to the profession, since they account for only 5% of nurses.

Ontario alone has a shortfall of about 12 000 nurses, and the shortage is expected to get worse as nurses retire. The average age of Ontario nurses is now 45, and MacLeod says most of them retire before age 55.

In addition to the high school blitz, the nursing groups are attending job fairs, developing a nurse shadowing program and recruiting in other countries. —