COLLINS: Shortage of health care workers won’t be solved quickly

Aug 18, 2023 | 5:30 AM

I THINK WE’RE ALL AWARE that our healthcare system is broken. Don’t expect it to improve any time soon. Virtually every category of workers in the system is short of people.

While it may seem undemocratic, maybe we need to implement an intelligence test before politicians can run for office. Of course that will only work if the civil servants underneath them also have some intelligence.

We just don’t seem to get it.The pandemic created tremendous stress among front-line workers. Lacking support to ease the overwork and the stress, many nurses and support workers just packed it in, wisely choosing to find a better work-life balance.

But the shortages started well before the pandemic. Those already in the field were getting older, and starting to think about their future.

Senior levels of government turned a blind eye, seemingly unaware that this issue was eventually going to come back and bite them in the bum. It wasn’t that no one wanted to go into nursing, there wasn’t the space to accommodate them. And the government has done precious little to solve the problem.

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Oh, they’ve increased the number of spaces in nursing schools by a marginal amount, but there are thousands more applicants every year than there are spaces.

And speaking of space, what kind of training facilities do we have to adequately train these new additions to a field where technology is changing so rapidly that schools have to have the latest teaching tools to ensure nurses can keep up?

And the latest reports indicate a shortage of educators themselves is developing because of retirement. Do you see where this is going? Around and around and around.

As Joni Mitchell says in her insightful song “The Circle Game” – “we’re captured on the carousel of time.” And in the healthcare system, time is fast running out.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by Doug Collins

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COLLINS: Shortage of health care workers won’t be solved quickly

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