Moncton college’s new program aims to address N.B. nursing shortage

Moncton’s Oulton College is trying to address New Brunswick’s nursing shortage with a new program.

Equipped with modern technology and a room full of eager students, Oulton College, a private institute in Moncton, N.B., is on track to graduate more than 30 nurses in record time, with students hitting the workforce in three years instead of four.

Chelsea Daley just completed her first term and says the accelerated program option gives her a chance to reach her goals quicker and prepare for what’s to come.

“I think it’s good to have something a little bit faster and more accelerated to start supporting the work force as quickly as we can because the nursing shortage definitely isn’t getting any better or any less, so I think as fast as we can responsibility and feasibly get our education the better,” she said. “I feel like being in that constant ‘go, go, go’ mindset is actually really good for us and I think that’s going to prepare us well for our careers as nurses.”

In September, the school launched its inaugural Bachelor of Science in Nursing program with 32 students making up its first cohort.

“I started this back in 2019 when we could see that the demand for nursing was getting extreme,” said president Darcie Reidpath. “We had our practical nursing program at that time and were looking for opportunities both to bring more nurses to the provinces and to provide our practical nursing graduates opportunities to continue to be registered nurses.”

She says the goal is to have 36 students per cohort and is open to adding more classes to meet the demand down the road.

“Graduates of this program will be the same as graduates of any other program,” she said. “We all work with a standardized set of entry-to-practice competencies within the frame works of the Maritime Higher Education commission and so these graduates will be eligible to write their certification exams, obtain licensing in the province, work in long-term care, acute care, clinic settings, private clinics, education if they pursue further education and the list goes on.”

On Wednesday, the school celebrated its first cohort’s completion of their first term by inviting health-care professionals to speak and see the facility.

Health Minister John Dornan says the new program is “huge for New Brunswickers,” noting the regional health authorities are down by nearly 800 nurses.

“Every time we hear of a program like Oulton, bringing in net new nurses every single year, that chips away more aggressively,” he said. “We have to consider our nursing work force. Many are old enough to retire, so that’s a net loss, so the actual date I can’t give you, I just know we’re moving in the right direction. We will meet that compliment in the not-too-distant future.

Dornan says there are a number of provincewide initiatives to address the shortage including incentives, retention bonuses and more space in schools.

“This is one of our private nursing institutions, we have another nursing institution that will bring people out, not tomorrow, but in the next couple of years,” he said. “We also have our traditional universities that are increasing the number of nurses in those programs, so they’re helping us and then lastly, but not unimportantly, we’re recruiting nurses back to New Brunswick.”

He says one of the goals is to become completely free of travel nurses, a factor that is contributing to the province’s nearly $400 million deficit.

“Travel nurses were something that were born in the time of COVID when we had a real shortage,” he said. “There’s no reason why we can’t train enough nurses, give them enough jobs so we will not depend on travel nurses.”

The hope is that by graduating more nurses right in New Brunswick, they will stay and work here as well.

Daley, who is originally from Newfoundland, says that is her current plan.

“Definitely for a few years at least, you know, build a family here, get some experience and then you know I might end up staying long term, I really don’t know but for the near future, absolutely,” she said.

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