COVID-19 VIANurse – Critical care nurses

RNAO continues to act swiftly on our commitment to Ontarians and our health system during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the record-high daily COVID-19 cases surpassing 4,000, RNAO activated VIANurse to augment nursing HR in critical care.

A survey was sent out starting on April 14, 2021 to RNAO’s RNs and NPs. As of April 23, 429 RNs and NPs have indicated their availability to help in critical care.

As of April 23, 27 hospitals have requested critical care RNs/NPs from VIANurse to augment their HR. All 27 facilities have been responded to within a day. A second call was also sent out for 10 facilities as more RNs/NPs filled out the survey. Other than for 3 hospitals where we are not aware of applications from survey respondents, all others have received applications. We are aware that 68 RNs/NPs have applied to the postings sent to them. About half of the hospitals have hired or are in the process of hiring these nurses.

Huge thanks to our RN and NP colleagues coming forward. Also thank you to the inspiring CEOs, CNE and HR personal for your kind messages of thanks. We salute you for your unwavering commitment, expertise and resilience to care for very ill patients in the most challenging conditions. As RNAO has said before and will continue to say: It didn’t need to be this way had the government followed the science table recommendations. Health organizations and us all must continue to be focused and resilient to help front line staff and through them Ontarians in dire need.

With the provincial government’s expansion of ICU beds across Ontario, there is an urgent need for additional RNs and NPs to provide care to more and more patients. Thus, we are asking again those of you with experience and competency in the provision of critical care health services, who are not currently working in these settings, or who can increase their hours, to support the increased demand. The need is immense across the province and we urge you to step forward, if you can.

Critical Care Nurses: Please CLICK HERE to complete our critical care survey if you are:

• available, and
• registered in a practicing class with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) as an RN or NP in good standing, or
• register with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) through the Emergency Assignment Class which was opened on April 19, 2021. There is no fee to register in this class. Also included is the link to Reinstatement.

How does it work? When employers in your area need critical care nurses we will let you know. You will discuss directly with the employer regarding application, hours of work, compensation, etc.

Employers: Employers who need critical care nurses can fill out this FORM. RNs and NPs in your geographical area will be connected to your hiring personnel via email for you to take it from there regarding application, hours of work and compensation etc.

Please note that VIANurse is only focused on critical care. For other staffing needs, nurses and employers should access RNCareers.ca, RNAO’s job board since 2005. If there are questions, please contact Daniel Lau, Director of Membership & Service at dlau@rnao.ca.