Call for Papers Vol 5(2). Why are we Leaving? The Crisis and Crumbling of Nursing Workforces.
Call for Papers
2023 Vol 5 (2)
Why are we Leaving? The Crisis and Crumbling of Nursing Workforces
The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse is pleased to announce a special issue on exploring the crisis in the nursing workforce, asking the rhetorical question, “Why are we leaving?” Intended to foster scholarship that explores and interrogates the crisis within the nursing workforce, and the myriad reasons behind it, this special issue builds from the growing discourse about the crisis in the nursing workforce in Canada and internationally.
Guest Editors
Michael Villeneuve, MSc RN FAAN FRCN FFNMRCSI
After 44 years in health care, Michael recently retired from his role as the chief executive officer of the Canadian Nurses Association and leads his own policy consultancy, Michael Villeneuve Associates.
Linda Silas, BScN RN
A lifelong activist committed to social justice and advancing nursing and universal health care, Linda is the president of Canada’s largest nursing organization, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, a role she has held since 2003.
Intended Focus of this Special Issue
In 2020, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions surveyed 7,153 nursing professionals, discovering a higher than typical plan of respondents to leave their position. The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario’s 2021 Work and Wellbeing Survey heard from over 2,000 nurses, discovering that close to 1 in 20 reported that they were going to leave the profession after the COVID-19 pandemic. At the start of 2022, a panel of nursing leaders collaborated to consider Canada’s post-pandemic nursing workforce, with the recognition that while nurses have assisted in aiding Canadians during this time, it came at a cost, especially due to care management approaches steeped in corporate mindsets that undervalue nursing’s contributions. Observations also highlighted how nurses have been poorly treated and neglected, contributing to the crisis, and crumbling of our nursing workforce. A call to stop viewing and treating nurses as commodities is not new, but it underscores this important policy brief. Each contributor was asked to provide an opening reflection, with many observations informing this call for papers. Take for instance Dr. Kathleen MacMillan, who said: “The pre-existing stressors on nurses and other health care professionals were made worse by the pandemic because the system failed to listen… and apply the evidence available to create more humane and satisfying work environments.”
The editorial board of Witness, Canada’s critical nursing discourse journal, wants to provide yet another venue where nurses will be listened to. Why are we leaving? How can critical social science lenses and analyses further illuminate what is behind the crumble, the crisis, and the exodus of nurses?
Potential topics (suggestions, but not limited to)
- Witnessing senicide in Canada’s long term care homes during COVID-19
- Moral distress
- Power and privilege
- Voice
- What’s behind the fear?
- Critical perspectives on nurses’ mental health and vicarious trauma
- Increased privatization
- Inequities in access to health care
- Nurse union activisms
- The responses of professional nursing associations
- Trends in the nursing workforce in Canada
- Applying an EDI lens to nurse burnout
- What might the decolonization of corporate health care models change?
- ? others as proposed via a query letter to the editor (witness@yorku.ca)
Manuscripts from nurse activists, students, clinicians, educators, researchers, administrators, policy makers/critics and nursing organizations are welcome. We especially welcome Indigenous perspectives, the experiences of nurses from many different racial and ethnic backgrounds, and contributions that reflect a critical analysis. Our guest editors will provide an editorial focusing, in part, on the steady decimation of Canada’s nursing workforce since the 1990s.
Guidelines for Authors:
Submissions are to be nurse-authored or if submitted by a team, the lead author must be a nurse. Manuscripts should have a clear relevance to nursing. Additionally, Witness requires adherence to our authorship criteria, found at https://witness.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/default/AuthReq Prospective authors must also familiarize themselves with the author guidelines set out in the journal found here: https://witness.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/default/about/submissions . Undergraduate student submissions are welcomed, and such submissions are to be supported/mentored by a nursing faculty member, and this must be indicated in the cover letter.
Firm Submission Deadline: June 30th, 2023
Note: All required materials and online entries must be submitted through the journal’s online portal at www.yorku.ca/witness, following the journal and the Council on Publication Ethics’ guidelines including those associated with authorship, conflict of interest etc. Please ensure author teams review our webpage. Lastly, prospective authors must register with the journal in order to submit their work.
For any questions regarding the journal or this call for papers including a desire to discuss a proposed submission not included in the introductory list of possible topics and foci, please don’t hesitate to contact the editor, Dr. Cheryl van Daalen-Smith at witness@yorku.ca
References
Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. (2020). Outlook on nursing: A snapshot from Canadian nurses on work environments pre-COVID-19. [online]: Available from nursesunions.ca/research/outlook-on-nursing/
Tomblin-Murphy, G., Sampalli, T., Bourque Bearskin, L., Cashen, L., Cummings G., Elliott Rose, A. Etowa, J., Grinspun, D., Jones, E., Lavoie-Tremblay, M., MacMillan, K., MacQuarrie, C., Martin-Misener, R., Oulton, J., Ricciardelli, R., Silas, L, Thorne, S. & Villeneuve. M. (2022). Investing in Canada’s nursing workforce post-pandemic: A call to action. FACETS. 7(): 1051 -1120. https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2022-0002
Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. 2021d, March. Work and Wellbeing survey results. [online]: Available from rnao.ca/sites/rnao-ca/files/Nurses_Wellbeing_Survey_Results_-_March_31.pdf
