As Nova Scotia grapples with a health-care system under strain, some nurses in the province are signing contracts with travel nursing agencies to work elsewhere in Canada.
Higher pay and more flexible schedules are two reasons early career nurses are leaving Nova Scotia hospitals, as Nova Scotia Health struggles to fill 1,024 vacant nursing positions and concerns about working conditions persist.
Some Nova Scotian travel nurses say there are no retention strategies in place to keep nurses here and alleviate staffing shortages. And there are no incentives for travel nurses to return to full-time staff positions, they say, because they