The Canadian Long-Term Care Sector Collapse from COVID-19: Innovations to Support People in the Workforce

Britney J Glowinski; Shirin Vellani; Mona Aboumrad; Idrissa Beogo; Thea Franke; Farinaz Havaei; Sharon Kaasalainen; Bonnie Lashewicz; Anne-Marie Levy; Katherine S McGilton; Josephine McMurray; Joanie Sims-Gould

doi:10.12927/hcq.2022.26982

The Canadian Long-Term Care Sector Collapse from COVID-19: Innovations to Support People in the Workforce

Healthc Q. 2022 Dec;25(SP):20-26. doi: 10.12927/hcq.2022.26982.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Research project coordinator at the Department of Community Health Sciences in the University of Calgary in Calgary, AB.
² Postdoctoral fellow at the Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Nursing at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON, and a nurse practitioner at Senior Persons Living Connected in Scarborough, ON.
³ Senior project coordinator at the Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary in Calgary, AB.
⁴ Assistant professor at the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, ON.
⁵ Research associate with the Active Aging Research Team at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC.
⁶ Assistant professor at the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia and a scholar at Michael Smith Health Research BC in Vanvouver, BC.
⁷ Professor and Gladys Sharpe chair in Nursing at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON.
⁸ Associate professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary in Calgary, AB.
⁹ Postdoctoral fellow in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, ON, and a clinical research coordinator in the Geriatric Psychiatry Department at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, ON.
¹⁰ Senior scientist at KITE in the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute at UHN and a professor at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto in Toronto, ON.
¹¹ Associate professor in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, ON, and the associate scientific director at AGE-WELL NCE in Toronto, ON.
¹² RSW is the principal scientist with the Active Aging Research Team at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC.

PMID: 36562580
DOI: 10.12927/hcq.2022.26982

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic rattled Canada's long-term care (LTC) sector by exacerbating the ingrained systemic and structural issues, resulting in tragic consequences for the residents, family members and LTC staff. At the core of LTC's challenges is chronic under-staffing, leading to lower quality of care for residents and higher degrees of moral distress among staff. A rejuvenation of the LTC sector to support its workforce is overdue. A group of diverse and renowned researchers from across Canada set out to implement innovative evidence-informed solutions in various LTC homes. Their findings call for immediate action from policy makers and LTC decision makers.

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Canada / epidemiology
Humans
Long-Term Care*
Pandemics
Workforce