Morale among Ontario health-care workers is deteriorating, according to a new report.
The peer-reviewed study, released on Monday, found a growing staffing crisis is putting the well-being of hospital workers and patients at risk.
"This study found that our cherished public health-care system is in serious trouble," said researcher Dr. James Brophy.
"We heard about the daily fear hospital workers felt going to work and being unable to perform the duties of caring for their patients because of understaffing."
The study is based on 26 in-depth interviews with Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario hospital workers and a survey taken by 775 of their colleagues.
The researchers concealed the identities of the health-care workers who took part in the study.
"We hardly have time to take breaks or go to the washroom. I don't think that patients are getting the care they need," said one outpatient clinic nurse in their interview.
Other nurses said they used to be excited about their jobs, but now dread going to work.
"You think it can’t get any worse and it just got worse," said a trauma department nurse.
"I was going through increasing panic attacks before work, crying before I got into the car."
Brophy noted several respondents suffered depression, physical and mental exhaustion and burnout because of their working conditions.
The concerns echo those of Saskatchewan registered nurses who expressed their own worries with staffing shortages in a survey released last fall.
Three in five registered nurses said they considered leaving the profession in the last 12 months. More than 90 per cent said their working conditions negatively impacted their mental health.
"There’s an irrefutable link between registered nurse burnout and poorer patient outcomes, and right now, we risk worsening shortages as faith in workplace support and commitment to fix the problem dwindles," Saskatchewan Union of Nurses president Tracy Zambory said at the time the results were released.
Ontario researchers gathered their information last fall coming off a summer of record-breaking emergency room closures and service disruptions in Ontario, said Michael Hurley, the president of CUPE's Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.
The report found that underfunding, understaffing, deregulation and privatization of the health-care system all affected the strain put on workers.
"Over time, this just corrodes people," Hurley said.
There is worry these effects will be compounded as more nurses consider leaving the profession, the researchers said.
B.C. is looking to become the first province to introduce a minimum nurse-patient ratio to cut down on the workload and retain nurses.
Other jurisdictions that have implemented minimum nurse-patient ratios, such as California and Australia, recorded promising results, according to BC Nurses’ Union vice president, Tristan Newby.
"They (nurses) endure less workplace injuries. There are less medication errors and there are less hospital acquired infections and less readmissions to hospital," Newby said.
"It's a win-win for the nurses, the profession and for the patients."
Without the minimum ratio, some departments have one nurse looking after upwards of 16 patients overnight, Newby said. Another department in B.C. was recently operating at less than 50 per cent of its baseline staffing.
"If you don't have baseline staffing, you're not able to provide the minimum amount of care, let alone, a high quality standard of care," Newby said.
"You're just limping along, you're surviving. And that's unfortunately, across the province, we see that."
Under the minimum ratio, there would need to be at least one nurse for every four patients in medical and surgical units at all times.
Newby said acute care settings will begin implementing the ratios in the fall.
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A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris on Saturday accepted an invitation from CNN to debate former U.S. president Donald Trump on Oct. 23.
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The London Police Service (LPS) is currently investigating a suspicious death in the east end.
The 75-year-old building, formerly the Waskesiu Chamber of Commerce building, was relocated to the Parks Canada compound on the edge of the townsite.
Mattea Roach among the Maritimers honoured with the King Charles III Coronation Medal Friday.
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An Ontario woman is among the dozens of people who have come forward to allege that they were sexually abused by London-based businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, the former chairman and owner of Harrods.
Sheba, a 50-year-old seal at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in southwest England, has far surpassed the average lifespan for seals and could be the oldest in captivity in the world.
The more Chelsea Walsh talked to the eccentric fellow American who seemed to pop up in every square and cobblestone street of Ukraine's capital, the more she got creeped out.
An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut apartment block killed a senior Hezbollah leader and about a dozen other members of the militant group, Israel's military said Saturday as Lebanon raised the attack's death toll to 37, including women and children.
A New Zealand pilot held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region of Indonesia was freed Saturday by separatist rebels.
An Israeli strike on a school in northern Gaza on Saturday killed at least 22 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while the Israeli army said it targeted a Hamas command centre in what used to be a school.
A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says close to 45,000 Canadians are in Lebanon, months after warning there is no guarantee Ottawa can evacuate them if the situation deteriorates further.
The federal firearm buyback program has cost taxpayers nearly $67.2 million since it was announced in 2020, but it still hasn't collected a single gun.
For some young people, a popular method for getting a quick high is by misusing laughing gas — and lately, that’s in the form of nitrous oxide from products sold by the company Galaxy Gas.
Looking after an adult with severe autism can be a full-time job. Ask any parent who has a child severely affected by autism spectrum disorder – it’s a job that can get more difficult as the child becomes an adult.
Canada is setting aside $151 million for the fight to eradicate polio worldwide. International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen announced the news at a Rotary International conference in Toronto.
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The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant said Friday that it plans to restart the reactor under a 20-year agreement that calls for tech giant Microsoft to buy the power to supply its data centers with carbon-free energy.
Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport, the National News Agency reported, after thousands of such devices exploded during a deadly attack on Hezbollah this week.
Kathryn Crosby, who appeared in such movies as 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad', 'Anatomy of a Murder,' and 'Operation Mad Ball' before marrying famed singer and Oscar-winning actor Bing Crosby, has died. She was 90.fff
'Saturday Night Live' will have a slew of famous faces to help kick off its historic 50th season when the show returns later this month.
The death of the Tragically Hip’s lead singer Gord Downie united fans across Canada in their grief, but in many ways pulled his bandmates apart.
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Experts say rising team valuations and the desire to forge a legacy are likely at the heart of what motivated Rogers Communications Inc. executive chair Edward Rogers to bolster the company's portfolio of Toronto professional sports teams.
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General Motors (GM) has issued a recall for 38,000 vehicles for safety risks related to a software glitch, Transport Canada reported in a notice on Wednesday.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of 'remotely disabling' his Cybertruck, which had been sent to the frontline of Russia's war in Ukraine.
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An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
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A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
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The Amherstburg Freedom Museum is celebrating of a year of festivities in anticipation of its 50th anniversary in 2025.
The St. Clair College golf teams were successful at the Niagara Knights Invitational tournament on Friday.
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The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.
A pair of runaway pigs are in the custody of an animal sanctuary in the Okanagan after evading police and volunteers for hours earlier this week.
The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
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Lethbridge County has rescinded its fire restriction as a result of the recent cool, wet weathr.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes kicked off the 2024-25 season on a winning note Friday night, defeating the Edmonton Oil Kings 3-1 in a game played at VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
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Newfoundland and Labrador's chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
A 16-year-old biennial event aimed at fostering business in the country's eastern Arctic and northern regions has been cancelled indefinitely as a dispute unfolds between Inuit in Canada and a Labrador group claiming to share their heritage.
Jim Lester’s farm hopped on the cow-cuddling trend in early August, and his time slots have been pretty well sold out ever since.
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