The Globe and Mail’s recently reported that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador spent nearly $36M for travel nurses over the summer of 2023, which has surprised nursing graduates who are searching for permanent, full-time work in the province. Centre for Nursing Studies fourth-year student Chloe George explained that students and staff alike were astonished to hear the news: “The faculty has really been surprised and not pleased about that either. I think they are just as blindsided and just as bewildered as we are.” CNS nursing student Hayley Cheeseman added that fewer than 25 of the 103 graduating students in her class had permanent, full-time jobs lined up. NL Health Minister Tom Osborne told CBC that there are enough full-time nursing jobs for every nurse in NL, but that students need to temper their expectations if they are looking to work in specific units or locations.
