Quebec's health minister and the province's biggest nurses' union have come to terms on the pilot project that will test different nurse-to-patient ratios in a bid to offer relief for overworked and burnt out nurses.
Nurses have been taking to social media to vent about all the mandatory overtime they've been doing, leaving them with too many patients to care for at once.
The 17 pilot projects will see hospitals and long term care homes cutting the number of patients assigned to each nurse during different shifts, by as much as half in some cases.
Health Minister Gaetan Barrette said for example in seniors' homes, the current ratio during the daytime shift is 25-32 patients per nurse and that'll go down to 20-27 patients. He said during the night shift, the current ratio is 50-64 patients per nurse and that will be reduced to 25-32 patients.
"Overnight, today, it's between 75 and 96 patients per nurse and we will start with those projects between 37 and 44 per nurse so that's a very significant reduction of workload for the nurses," said Barrette at a news conference.
Barrette said if it works out, the hiring process will begin and the new ratios will roll out in the whole system as quickly as possible.
Barrette said it will also depend on how many nurses they can hire and how many they can train in time.
The Lakeshore General is the first test case beginning next month, with others to follow - most this summer, the rest by fall.
The Lakeshore General's pilot project will focus on nurses working in general healthcare. One project in the Mauricie-Centre-du-Quebec will focus on nurses in surgery and another in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean will deal with nurses at a long-term care home.
The FIQ nurses union said this won't solve all the problems but that it's a step towards reducing the workload.