(Quebec) The Legault government will give the green light to the deployment of accelerated training to recruit nursing assistants and fill the approximately 3,000 administrative officer positions who must support nurses in the health network. Details will be released on Wednesday.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, and the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, will announce on Wednesday the launch of two new accelerated training courses to act against the shortage of manpower in the health network and social services, according to information obtained by Press. One will target licensed practical nurses and the other will target administrative officers in support of clinical sectors.
This announcement is not unrelated to “Operation mainstream” that Prime Minister François Legault presented on Tuesday. The government’s plan to tackle the shortage in six sectors, including health and social services, is accompanied by an investment of $ 3.9 billion over five years.
In September, Mr. Legault said his government was working on developing accelerated training to train more nursing assistants. The Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers auxiliaires du Québec (OIIAQ) then said it was “open” to discussion with the government.
The OIIAQ had however warned that it is “unthinkable” to reduce the content of the study program, unlike what was done during the implementation of accelerated training to train beneficiary attendants during the first wave. of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unlike beneficiary attendants, the practice of nursing assistants is supervised by a professional order. The Health, Assistance and Nursing Care program, which leads to a vocational studies diploma (DEP), is also much stronger with 1,800 hours of training, often over two years.
Among the possible solutions, the OIIAQ suggested the possibility of limiting vacation periods or offering courses during the summer to complete training more quickly. Some 1,100 candidates for the profession pass the exam each year after completing the DEP. There is a lack of at least a thousand full-time nursing assistants in the network, according to the ministry.
Hiring of administrative agents
At the start of his hiring and retention program, which comes with a bonus of $ 15,000 per full-time nurse, Minister Dubé announced the creation of some 3,000 administrative officer positions. We aimed for them to be on the ground in the spring of 2022.
Their hiring is aimed at reducing the workload of nurses who say they waste precious time “filling out paperwork”. Minister Dubé wants to implement a “new management model” in the network and in particular promote “better work-family balance and stable working hours”.
The sums linked to the creation of these new posts were provided for in the Girard mini-budget, presented last week.
“The health and social services sector is one of the most affected by the scarcity of labor. […] The government is therefore putting in place concrete initiatives which will have the effect of: optimizing the organization of work by training and hiring administrative agents in order to free clinicians from administrative tasks and enable them to increase their presence with patients and users ”, we can read in the mini-budget