IPad 2 used to lure Quebec nurses
CBC News
Posted: Feb 22, 2012 7:40 AM ET
Last Updated: Feb 22, 2012 7:49 PM ET
Hospitals in western Quebec are so desperate for young nurses that they are entering all new recruits in a draw to win an iPad 2.
The area's health care institutions, which include the Gatineau and Hull hospitals, aim to bring in a total of more than 600 new nurses in 2012.
To enter the contest, nurses must have graduated from a nursing program and moved from another region.
Nurse recruitment has been a troublesome task for years, according to Gatineau's health authority. In 2011, there were only 107 new nurses to the region.
The goal of the contest, and a new online recruiting campaign, is to attract candidates that are both young and skilled.
The iPad 2, which is coincidentally being used in more hospitals, is also a tool for the western Quebec health authority in recruiting new nurses. (CBC)"We have to be innovative, we have no choice," said Sylvain Dubé, spokesman for the Gatineau's centre of health and social services. "You have to find new ways to recruit young nurses, so that's why we launched that kind of contest two weeks ago."
The health authority is also holding information sessions at local colleges and universities, but Dubé acknowledged the recruitment of nurses is competitive.
He also said the hospitals need nurses with more than 10 years experience.
The head of the nurses' union in Gatineau, Lyne Plante, said the goal is also to create a new pool of both nurses and nursing aides to draw from.
The union said it supports the recruitment campaign.
With files from the CBC's Carolyn ThompsonShare Tools
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