Shortage of Healthcare workers in Canada and the World
From a patient’s perspective, it is hard to wait indefinitely when you or your loved ones are in pain and getting insufficient treatment from the healthcare workers.
However, have you ever thought about why these issues are happening and how come they have not been fixed? While there are numerous factors that contribute to this issue, I would like to focus on the shortage of healthcare workers and how it relates to the experience you face in the healthcare environment in the future.
In Canada, there are major consequences due to the lack of healthcare workers, especially in rural regions.
In Nunavut, only 24 % of people were able to access regular healthcare in the earlier years of the pandemic (Pelley, 2023). Additionally, many Canadians do not have access to a primary care doctor, specifically in the younger demographic.
While the percentage of people with access to regular providers is high in larger provinces, we are still seeing the struggles that healthcare workers face due to this shortage of workers.
One study suggests that it is predicted that 78,000 physicians will be lacking by 2031 and 117,600 nurses by 2030 (Calder et al., 2023). This means it is important to keep the present healthcare employees, while also increasing the number of new healthcare workers. However, the lack of workers has been causing stress and burnout from working overtime, making worker retention much more challenging. The survey that was taken by the nurses showed that over half of the respondents wished to leave work due to exhaustion and other reasons (Calder et al., 2023).
As a solution to this problem, the federal government has announced to invite healthcare workers from foreign countries by offering them permanent residency in Canada (Tasker, 2023).
Although, it is important to realize that healthcare worker shortages are not only happening in Canada, but also globally. WHO projected a shortage of 10 million healthcare workers by 2030, which disproportionately affects low and middle-income countries (Global Opportunity Forum, 2023).
The world is facing a crisis of shortage of healthcare employees. Is it fair for high-income countries to recruit more workers from foreign countries to solve this problem within their own country? Those foreign workers may come from low and middle-income countries, which makes people struggle more with this crisis, making them weaker and poorer.
Giving out permanent residency to foreign workers is a short-term solution to the problem. Since there are scarce healthcare workers globally, while it may benefit one side of the planet, it is harming the other. Hence, I believe it is important for the countries to collaborate to tackle this serious issue, which hugely impacts the living quality and future of health globally.
Reference:
Pelley, L. (2023, August 2). Surgery backlogs, staff shortages, no family doctor: New report highlights Canada's health-care crisis. CBC.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cihi-report-2013-health-care-crisis-1.6924866
Tasker. J.P. (2023, June 28). As Canada grapples with a doctor shortage, Ottawa announces immigration stream for health workers. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-doctor-shortage-immigration-1.6891603 - Canadian government inviting foreign doctors
Calder, L.M., Laios, E., Wilbur, K., Nowell, L., & Molitor, W.L., (2023, September 22). Patient engagement vital in training health professionals. Queen’s Gazette.
https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/solving-canada-s-shortage-health-professionals-means-training-more-them-and-patients-have - nurse survey, number of shortfall in Canada
Global Opportunity Forum. (2023, April 7). It’s World Health Day. The W.H.O. calls shortages in healthcare workforces a “strategic priority.” Global Opportunity Forum.
https://goi.mit.edu/2023/04/07/its-world-health-day-the-w-h-o-calls-shortages-in-healthcare-workforces-a-strategic-priority/
By Azuki Tokunaga (She/Her) | Blog Committee member
