A system that can’t keep nurses can’t keep patients safe

Experienced nurses are cutting back hours, changing roles, or leaving the profession not because they care less, but because care environments have become untenable.

Retention will not improve until leaders treat working conditions as core infrastructure for safety and quality, measure them transparently, and act on what nurses report, write Sonia Udod, Leigh Chapman, Greta Cummings, and Monika Warren. Photograph courtesy of Pexels

Opinion

BY SONIA UDOD, LEIGH CHAPMAN, GRETA CUMMINGS, MONIKA WARREN

April 22, 2026

Near the end of a long shift, a nurse finishes charting after caring for more patients than is safe—while the next shift is already short-staffed. This isn’t an exception; it’s the new normal across Canada. The core issue is not supply alone; it’s a system that canno...

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