Georgian College’s first graduating nursing students are entering a healthcare system that local hospitals say depends heavily on training partnerships, though some graduates say finding work has been more uncertain than expected.
The college's four-year Bachelor of Science – Nursing (BScN) program began in 2022 at its Barrie and Owen Sound campuses, preparing students to become registered nurses (RNs). It also opened the possibility of registered practical nurses (RPNs) to bridge into a career as an RN.
The milestone ceremony marked the culmination of four years of training for the program’s first cohort, who say they played a direct role in shaping its development.
"We often refer to ourselves as guinea pigs," class valedictorian Natasha MacDuffie told Barrie360. "We actually helped build the program, so that kind of makes it more meaningful for us."
"We designed this program specifically to meet the needs of our region," Dr. Sara Lankshear, the program's associate dean, told Barrie360. "The students come from this community, then they learn about this community, and now they will stay here and practice in this community."
Lankshear says many of the students have already been offered jobs by local healthcare institutions, pending the result of their licensure exam.
"I feel very prepared," MacDuffie said. "Our clinical experiences, particularly one at the end, gave me 420 hours. So, we got a lot of time in the hospitals and we're ready."
Previously, Georgian provided a four-year degree option, but in partnership with York University for the final two years. However, Lankshear says they found that 60 per cent of those students that went to York never came back home to practice.
Due to its proximity and size, RVH has become one of the primary destinations for Georgian students completing placements and later entering the workforce.
Fresh hires will come in as externs before moving into the new graduate guarantee (NGG) program. The NGG helps orient new nurses for full-time roles where they can practice independently before transitioning into either RN or RPN positions within the hospital.
Dara Marcoccia, RVH's vice president of people experience and chief human resources officer (CHRO) says in the past three years, hospital officials say their approach to retaining nurses has stabilized its staff in a period when other areas of the province are seeing shortages.
However, pressures within the healthcare system remain. In particular, ensuring the right nursing teams are in place to meet patient needs can still be a challenge.
"Demands are high and, for our community, excessive," Leanne Weeks, RVH's vice president of clinical and chief nursing executive (CNE) told Barrie360. "The demand for care is high (because of) the complexity of patients... we see patients arriving who are sicker than we've seen in the past."
There are also other pressures facing healthcare workers today that they may not have experienced a decade ago, adding further complexity to the work.
"Violence does unfortunately occur sometimes," Dara Marcoccia, RVH's vice president of people experience and chief human resources officer (CHRO) told Barrie360. "Because of the complexity of the patient presenting , they may have responsive behaviours and those types of things . But, we provide strong support to our staff around learning how to de-escalate and giving them the skills to be able to provide the best care to that patient at the time."
Even as local hospitals emphasize strong nursing pipelines and stabilized staffing, new grads like MacDuffie say entering the workforce still comes with uncertainty and a competitive job search.
Despite that sense of preparedness, MacDuffie said the transition into the workforce has come with unexpected uncertainty.
“We’ve been promised for four years that they’re crying for nurses, but looking at the job postings out there, it doesn’t always feel like that.”
MacDuffie said she has been selective in her search, but despite a high volume of applications, she’s had very little luck.
“I’ve applied to probably everything—maybe 20 to 30 resumes—and I’ve had three interviews,” she said. “It’s a little scary that there’s not too much happening, but I’m sure something will come along."
Broader concerns about nursing workload and staffing extend beyond RVH and across the province.
The valedictorian completed her placement in Huntsville, in a much smaller hospital than RVH, which made her aspire to work in rural communities. She says she has applied to hospitals in and north of Orillia.
It's also not MacDuffie's first career, citing her previous time as medical lab technology as an inspiration to get into nursing. She then endured the four year RN program as a mature student, all while raising two kids, and recognizes that the family commitment could be both a negative and a positive.
"Coming in a little bit older maybe put me at a bit of an advantage because the maturity can be assumed there," she said. "But it also could be a detriment because I'm also coming in with baggage. I have a family, I have kids, and I'm also not going to be in the workforce as long as everybody else."
She added that nursing remains an appealing career because of its flexibility, allowing graduates to move between bedside care, community work and other specialties.
