Alberta health worker shortage falls far below Canada’s national rates
ALBERTA, CANADA — Alberta is facing a severe shortage of critical health professionals, with psychiatric nurses, nurse practitioners, and audiologists among the most affected, new data reveals.
Alberta’s health workforce crisis deepens
CTV News reports that the scarcest are registered psychiatric nurses, who are available at a rate of 30.5 per 100,000 residents, which lags behind the national average.
At a distance are nurse practitioners and audiologists, who record deficits of 31.3% and 25.9%, respectively. Such inconsistencies pose risks to access to mental health, primary care, and specific interventions.
There is also a shortage of midwives, medical radiation technologists, and genetic counselors, which further strains the system. For example, the number of midwives per 100,000 population in Alberta is 3.7, which is 21.3% lower than the national trend.
The shortages are present across both niche and core functions, thus indicating that many recruitment and retention issues persist systematically. Otherwise, patients will experience even poorer conditions and longer waiting times.
Dispute over data highlights policy divide
While Prezler Injury Lawyers, the firm behind the report, warns of alarming gaps, the Alberta government disputes the findings.
One of the Alberta Ministry of Primary and Preventive Health Services spokespersons termed the analysis as “misleading,” as it brings all the regulated nurses together. Alberta is either more than or equal to the national standards, they said.
“Registered psychiatric nurses are a subgroup of regulated nurses, registered separately only in the western provinces. Everything said about them in this report reflects a misunderstanding of how nursing is regulated in Canada,” a spokesperson told CTV News in a statement.
“Alberta has about the same or slightly more nurses than the national average, and under the current collective agreement, Alberta’s RNs are the highest paid in the country (per UNA),” the spokesperson also notes.
The clash underscores broader debates over health workforce planning. Nurse practitioners cite barriers like limited education programs and salary stagnation, while the province touts high wages for registered nurses.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Mador of the Nurse Practitioner Association emphasizes the risks of burnout, saying, “One workforce cannot do this alone.” The divide suggests solutions require collaboration, not just data disputes.
Outsourcing as a stopgap for the nursing shortage
To address impending gaps, Alberta may need to consider outsourcing as a solution. The shortage of psychiatric nurses in any region or nation, as well as the local training benefits, could help stabilize the services. Such measures ease the strain as systemic reforms take shape.
