Nurses say workplace culture getting worse

The president of the Manitoba Nurses Union is painting a bleak picture of how the province’s nurses feel about workplace culture and safety on the job amid a shortage of front-line workers.

It’s time for the government to take action, Darlene Jackson said Tuesday in an interview.

“I’ve talked with nurses from Prairie Mountain, members who talk about growing violence and safety issues in their facilities. It’s all over this province,” Jackson said.

The union’s recent survey of its 13,000 members found that 44 per cent reported that their workplace culture has worsened in the last year, while 34 per cent said it’s the same and only 15 per cent said it has improved.

“We all had faith in the government that things were going to get better,” Jackson said.

“That was one of their campaign promises. Unfortunately, it did not happen, and nurses are finding that it’s not any better. In fact, it’s even worse.”

Safety was a recurring issue in the survey, which had nearly 1,500 respondents.

“Nearly half of nurse respondents (46 per cent) feel an expectation to provide care in unsafe situations on a weekly or daily basis,” said the MNU’s report on the survey’s findings.

“The level of violence we’re seeing now against nurses was absolutely unheard of 10 to 15 years ago. Now it’s a commonplace event,” Jackson said.

“Nurses being treated disrespectfully as if they’re replaceable and dispensable by employers is not acceptable.”

Jackson was referring to a nurse who was choked and nearly stabbed with a needle by an emergency room patient at Brandon Regional Health Centre in April, and a 24-year-old man who masturbated in front of a nurse at a Brandon health-care facility on Jan. 8.

In Winnipeg, she added, “HSC (Health Sciences Centre) is a mess when it comes to safety issues. It’s just a mess.”

The survey — conducted in June — consisted of direct questions about workplace culture and mental wellness. There were also opportunities to respond to open-ended questions and add suggestions and positive and negative comments.

A recurring frustration was the absence of present, responsive and accountable managers, as was normalizing toxic behaviour, the report stated.

New nurses, licensed practical nurses, racialized staff and casual workers reported higher levels of disrespect, dismissal and exploitation.

“I’ve made it clear to government that the direction on the change of culture comes from them,” Jackson said.

“They need to make it clear to employers that they have to provide a safe workplace. They have to ensure that providing care and receiving care in a facility is a safe space for everyone.”

Responding to the MNU survey Tuesday, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the government remains committed to listening to nurses “even when the feedback is negative feedback.”

“We’re going to continue to listen and take action based on their ideas and solutions and prioritize them feeling better about their jobs and the calling they chose as a career,” said Asagwara, a psychiatric nurse.

The government has given “clear direction to leadership at the highest levels of the health-care system” that managers are expected to be “emotionally intelligent,” listen to the front lines “and prioritize not only improved patient outcomes but improved workplace experiences of their workers,” Asagwara said.

Just over 60 per cent of nurses who responded to the survey said they are struggling with their mental wellness at work — weekly or more frequently.

The most significant drivers of poor mental wellness in the workplace were high workloads and negative communication with managers.

Positive comments regarding mental wellness included having supportive colleagues, feeling safe when speaking with a manager and working as a casual employee, which helped with work-life balance.

Having peer support or debriefs after difficult shifts were included in the suggestions section, as was hiring strategies to reduce constant short staffing.

New nurses have been hired in the province, but Jackson said there is a discrepancy in numbers released by the health minister and data the union received from a request through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

In February, Asagwara announced 1,200 new net hires of health-care professionals, including 481 new nurses, since the previous April.

But according to the union’s FIPPA request, which was provided by the Winnipeg Health Authority, there were only 370 net new nurse hires over a longer period of time.

The FIPPA data showed 1,340 casual, part-time and full-time nurses hired between April 1, 2024 and May of this year. At the same time, 970 retired or resigned, which means 370 net new hires.

“We did not make those numbers up, we didn’t pull them out of thin air — they came from the employer,” Jackson said, adding, “And when we got that, it was not congruent with what we had been hearing about the net new (nurses) from the government.”

The same data shows 59 net new hires for PMH, which is an encouraging sign, CEO Treena Slate said Tuesday.

Slate, in an email to the Sun, said the net increase is a reflection of recruitment efforts and the work of an employee wellness committee that supports the health and well-being of staff members.

“Prairie Mountain Health is very encouraged by the improving recruitment rates we have seen in our nursing staff classifications,” she wrote.

“Increases in enrolment and the number of nursing training seats within the region has positively impacted regional nursing recruitment rates.”

Jackson said one of the frustrations she has with the provincial government is the message she has been getting about “tightening their belts.”

“We are dealing with a government whose first line whenever they’re approached is, ‘We have no money.’ It’s all about fiscal restraint,” said Jackson.

“But there are certain issues that demand funding, like safety for everyone in health-care facilities — not just staff, but patients and everyone who visits,” she said.

“We’re advocating like crazy to get security officers — like Brandon has — into our buildings. It is something that must be done.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com, with files from the Winnipeg Free Press

» enviromichele.bsky.social