Alberta nurses leaving front-line healthcare for less stressful units, jobs

In increasing numbers, Alberta nurses are deciding to leave the full-time frontlines to work in health settings that offer more work-life balance. A popular choice? Aesthetics.

Nursing has always been a demanding career, and that was never more true than over the last two-and-half years during the COVID-19 pandemic and fallout.

“I’ve been in nursing for about 20 years but I’ve worked in the health-care profession since the 80s,” said Alberta nurse Renee. “I’ve always wanted to be a nurse.

“I didn’t realize it for many months, because you became very consumed with the day-to-day work and just doing the tasks, but ultimately, the stress affected my health to the point where I had to seek medical help,” she said.

Global News agreed to use a pseudonym for Renee to protect her from potential job repercussions.

In the past, Renee had worked in medicine, day medical, palliative and family medicine. Just before the pandemic, she’d taken a leadership position in infection control at a long-term care facility.

“It was when I started noticing the deterioration of my own physical health that I knew I could not keep it up.

“To go to work with that everyday — going: ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get through today, I don’t know what we’re going to face today, individually and as a team,’ — it was just like dragging a big, heavy ball on my leg to get to work.

“But you did it. You had to. You had patients whose lives were affected… staff needed us there as well.”