Regina - A major research report prepared by the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) confirms that Licensed Practical Nursing is a growing profession, which now represents nearly 22% of Canada's regulated nursing workforce, and that Saskatchewan's LPN workforce is growing more rapidly than the national average.

The report is entitled Regulated Nurses: Canadian Trends 2004-2008. The research report provides health care employers, governments and the public with detailed information on Canada's nursing professionals, with respect to the latest five-year period for which information is available from all Canadian provinces and territories.

"Licensed Practical Nurses represented 21.8% of the total regulated nursing workforce in Canada in 2008 with 81,121 LPNs employed in Canadian health care. This was an increase of 13.8% from 2004. During the same five-year period, the number of Saskatchewan LPNs increased by 18% or more than the national average," Colin Hein, Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Association of Licensed Practical Nurses said.

"The report shows that Saskatchewan needs to stay ahead of the national average in terms of bringing new LPNs into the workforce, because 26.1% of existing LPNs have more than 30 years experience in the work place, meaning they are fast approaching retirement age," Hein noted. "In fact, Saskatchewan has the highest percentage of LPN's with more than 30 years experience of any Canadian province or territory. The good news is that Saskatchewan is graduating new LPNs in growing numbers, with 46.3% of all Saskatchewan LPNs having entered the workforce in the past ten years," Hein added.

"Another interesting fact from the CIHI study shows that in 2008, 88.2% of Saskatchewan LPN grads stayed in the province to work, however that gave Saskatchewan only the seventh best rate of retention among Canadian provinces and territories. We all need to work together to improve the retention of Saskatchewan graduates if we are going to continue to be able to meet the demands for a growing LPN workforce in the future," Hein concluded.

For Further Information Contact:

Colin Hein, Executive Director, Saskatchewan Association of Licensed Practical Nurses
306-525-1436, Ext. 227

News Editors: Copies of the report Regulated Nurses: Canadian Trends 2004-2008 can be found at the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) website at: www.cihi.ca