Rural Nursing Program to Improve Care and Recruitment

Communities in rural Nova Scotia will benefit from a new training opportunity for registered nurses. The first group of nurses to enroll in the Rural Nursing Program started training today, May 28.

The Rural Nursing Program is a pilot project funded by the Department of Health and delivered by the Registered Nurses Professional Development Centre. The program was created to provide nurses with the skills they need to practice nursing in rural communities. It will also help boost recruitment and retention efforts in rural areas.

"Much is asked of our rural nurses, which can make it challenging to recruit nurses to these areas," said Health Minister Chris d'Entremont. "This course will help us meet some of these challenges."

Today's nurse must deal with increasingly complex cases. Nurses in rural settings often face unique opportunities and challenges as a result of seeing a broad range of patients with a variety of health-care needs.

The Rural Nursing Program was developed to address the unique demands placed on rural nurses. It is a part-time distanced program that will run over one year, allowing nurses to continue to work and study at home. The program explores the care and treatment of a number of health-care issues across the patient's life span.

"Nova Scotia is a nationally recognized leader in terms of its efforts to address the challenges facing rural nurses," said Roberta Gates-Thompson, nurse educator, Registered Nurses Professional Development Centre. "This program is another step in the right direction. It will provide our rural nurses with the tools they need to deliver the level of care all Nova Scotians deserve."

Through the nursing strategy, the province established a Rural and Remote Working Group to address the challenges faced by rural nurses and recruiters. In 2006, it released an action plan that identified the creation of a Rural Nursing Program in Nova Scotia as one way to meet the needs of rural nurses.

In it were a number of other recommendations that have been accepted and acted on by the province, including policy changes, expansion of the Co-operative Learning Experience Program for student nurses, and methods for facilitating clinical placements for student nurses to rural areas of the province. All of which were designed to improve the experience of nurses practicing in rural Nova Scotia.

More information on the Rural Nursing Program is available at www.cdha.nshealth.ca/education/rNPDC.html .

More information on nursing in Nova Scotia is available at www.gov.ns.ca/health/nursing/default.htm .