80/20 projects: introduction

Nurses work a disproportionate amount of paid and unpaid overtime, are threatened by assault and injury, are overworked and have high rates of illness and injury (see, for example, Lasota 2009; Shields and Wilkins 2006; O'Brien-Pallas et al. 2004; Aiken et al. 2002). These factors hamper retention and recruitment efforts, adding to Canada's growing nursing shortage, which could reach as high as 60,000 full-time equivalents by 2022 (Tomblin Murphy et al. 2009). The lack of available nurses and the poor working conditions are mutually reinforcing. What is more, these conditions impede nurses from providing patient-centred care (Curtin 2003; Aiken et al. 2002; Baumann et al. 2001).