A Portrait of Registered Nurses in Primary Care in Canada: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Primary care nurses play a critical role in team-based primary care in Canada. Despite their growing presence in interdisciplinary teams, comprehensive workforce data are limited.

To describe demographic, employment, work setting, and patient population characteristics of primary care nurses across Canada.

We conducted an online cross-sectional survey of registered nurses in primary care across Canada. The survey was informed by the structure, process, and outcome variables of the Nursing Role Effectiveness Model and previous project findings. We analyzed data using frequency distributions and measures of central tendency, focusing on 6 provinces with sufficient sample sizes: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Of 1092 eligible responses, most were women (94.8%), held a bachelor's degree (88.2%), were unionized (73.7%), and worked in Ontario or Quebec (74.6%). Most were employed by regional health authorities (64.4%), worked full-time (81.4%), and were paid via salary (49.5%) or hourly wage (50.1%). While most worked in clinics (85.4%), others provided care in homes, schools, and community programs. Clinic funding models varied provincially, with block/global funding most common in British Columbia (34.2%), Quebec (54.0%), and Newfoundland and Labrador (61.5%), while Alberta primarily relied on billings (28.9%) and Ontario on both capitation (28.7%) and block/global funding (28.7%). Provincial variations were also observed in unionization, years of experience, and patient populations.

This study provides the most comprehensive portrait of primary care nurses in Canada to date. Findings highlight provincial variations, offering valuable insights for workforce planning, policy development, and future research.