Edmonton Journal has reported:

For every 100 new nursing graduates entering Alberta’s health-care workforce, 36 nurses under age 35 are leaving the profession and choosing not to renew their licences, according to figures in a new report from the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), a Canadian public policy think-tank. The province’s rate is slightly higher than the national figure of 34 younger nurses leaving for every 100 new entrants, adding to pressure on emergency departments already facing physician and bed shortages and the respiratory season.

The departures are contributing to longer waits and ward closures across Alberta, the report’s figures suggest. Nationally, 27,139 nursing positions were open in 2025, about three times the number recorded in 2016. A 2026 survey by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions found that more than four in 10 nurses had worked involuntary overtime in the previous six months, while nine in 10 across Canada had experienced some form of violence or abuse at work in the past year. The survey concluded that half of nurses show signs of burnout.

At Calgary’s Foothills hospital, overnight emergency department shifts can be short by eight to nine nurses against a baseline complement of 31, said Dr. Paul Parks, president of the emergency medicine section of the Alberta Medical Association. He said the staffing pattern undermines other efforts to ease pressure on emergency care. “Inconsistent emergency department nurse staffing is making it next to impossible to implement any of the other physician-related mitigating strategies,” Parks said.

The shortfalls limit emergency department capacity. In October, waits at Calgary emergency departments reached 11 to 12 hours, and more than half of emergency department beds were occupied by admitted patients waiting for an in-patient bed. Parks said the high patient volumes reflect the number of seriously ill people arriving while departments lack enough nurses to care for them safely.

“The high volumes (reflect) really sick people, but they’re so grossly understaffed with nurses. When that happens, it’s very unsafe to try to take care of really overstretched emerge department with really sick patients,” he said. “That means they have to close some areas. It just adds to the overcrowding. The system’s under immense, crazy strain, and we’ve been warning (the province) again and again and again,” Parks said.

Annjanette Ridsdale-Weddell, CEO of the Alberta Association of Nurses (AAN), said the departure rate places undue pressure on an already strained system. The professional association represents all regulated nursing designations in Alberta. Ridsdale-Weddell said retaining experienced nurses is necessary to support new graduates joining the workforce.

“The problem is that the system is strained. We’re not retaining the experienced nurses that we have, and we need to have experienced nurses to help support the new grads coming into the system,” she said. She added that working conditions have worsened and that nurses often work in environments they do not consider psychologically safe.

“ Our working conditions have deteriorated significantly, and the majority of times we’re working in environments that are not psychologically safe for us.”

Nursing competency requires ongoing education beyond a diploma because the work is complex and constantly changing, Ridsdale-Weddell said. Professional development on the job is also continuous, but a strained system can restrict opportunities to learn and build skills. She said safe working conditions include being able to report medication or medical errors without fear of discipline or other repercussions.

“In any industry, when there is when the environment is not psychologically safe, lives are lost,” Ridsdale-Weddell said. She pointed to major tragedies in other industries linked to psychologically unsafe workplaces, including the 1985 shuttle launch explosion. The AAN has submitted a proposal to the Alberta government for early-career support for new graduates, as well as a separate program proposal to help leaders at the point of care create psychologically safe working environments.

British Columbia has had the country’s strongest nurse-retention performance, with turnover among young nurses down 53 per cent since 2014. For every 100 young nurses entering B.C.’s health-care workforce, about 26 leave. Gabriel Giguere, a senior policy analyst for MEI, said Alberta could examine B.C. and New Brunswick for policies that give nurses more control over their schedules.

In both provinces, shift-swapping pools let nurses trade shifts without administrative approval. “The government establishes a path that makes it easier for flexibility, to make sure that you can change schedules with another nurse. In B.C., we saw the ratio of outflow has dramatically reduced. Part of it is related to international new nurses that bring up the inflow, but in the meantime, the added flexibility definitely helped,” Giguere said.

He also suggested giving nurses more freedom to work for private clinics, travel-nurse agencies or telehealth companies. Such options, he said, can help nurses manage their schedules and maintain a healthier work-life balance.