The government of Manitoba will offer a tuition grant of up to $ 10,000 for nurse practitioners who decide to work for one year in a rural community after graduation.
“Nurse practitioners play a vital role in caring for Manitoba families,” said Health Minister Theresa Oswald in a statement.
The initiative is one of many taken by the Manitoba government to help increase the number of nurses working in the province. After facing a loss of nurses in the 1990s, Manitoba’s nursing workforce reached an all-time high in 2012, with 17,652 working across the province, according to statistics by Manitoba’s Colleges of Nurses.
Nurse practitioners are allowed to diagnose illnesses, treat conditions, prescribe medication and order diagnostic tests.
“They are very important… There are many people in the public who can actually see and be treated by nurse practitioners”, says Sandy Mowat, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Mowat welcomes the new grant, as one more way to recruit and retain nurses in Manitoba.
“There’s certainly a shortage of them throughout the province, particularly in rural and northern Manitoba,” says Mowat.
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‘Keeping people healthier’
Furthermore, she thinks that having more nurses in the province puts the emphasis on prevention, rather that dealing with illness.
“Any kinds of goals that increase the public’s access to public health care are going to help in the long run with keeping people healthier”, she says.
Mowat also wants the government to keep nurses healthy, so that they’ll stay in the workforce.
“We do need to talk about working conditions and workloads for nurses.”
Applications for the grants will become available in fall 2013.
Sandy Mowat, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, talks to Gilda Salomone about the province’s new tuition grant for nurses.
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