According to a study by the Montreal Economic Institute (IEDM), almost half of Quebec nurses give up the job before the age of 35, preferring to leave the profession due to difficult working conditions.
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For example, from 2016 to 2021, out of 100 trained nurses, 44 will be reoriented before their 35th birthday, explained Emmanuelle Faubert, an economist at the MEI and author of the report published on Thursday.
This is an increase compared to the period from 2011 to 2015, when it was estimated that 37 out of 100 nurses left the profession before this age.
According to the economist, the decisive factor for the dropout is the more difficult working conditions that these young professionals have to endure compared to their older colleagues.
“The mass exodus of young nurses is symptomatic of the way we treat them, particularly early in their careers,” she stressed.
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According to another survey of health professionals who are members of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), 71% of nurses planning to leave the profession cited work overload as the main cause and 58% cited salaries.
“This is a worrying situation as more and more nurses are retiring and we appear unable to retain sufficient numbers of new nurses in the system,” Ms. Faubert emphasized.
In Quebec, there are 10.5 nurses per 1,000 residents, which is slightly lower than the average for G7 countries.
In 2021, Health Minister Christian Dubé predicted that there would be a shortage of 28,000 nurses in the province by 2026.