CFNU survey shows grim reality of nursing
A new survey from the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) is unlikely to come as any surprise to ONA members.
The CFNU National Nurses Survey of 4,736 practising nurses across Canada in early 2025, shows that about one-quarter work more than full-time hours (including 28% of Ontario respondents), with almost half working paid and unpaid overtime on a regular basis, multiple times a week or month. Both nationally and in Ontario, more than one-third recently worked involuntary overtime, while the same amount have worked shifts longer than 12 hours in the past month.
A further one in four respondents rate their work environment negatively. Two in three say their workplace is regularly over capacity, including 68.5% of respondents in Ontario. One in three describe the quality of care delivered in their workplace over the past year as fair or poor, with one in two saying it has deteriorated.
“Nurses on the front lines share the same concerns year after year,” says CFNU President Linda Silas. “They’re telling us loud and clear that this health human resources crisis is not getting better and they aren’t seeing the support they need at the bedside to provide the quality care patients deserve.
“With far too many patient assignments, nurses face the impossible task of being in several places at once. There is nothing more demoralizing than being ill-equipped to perform your job in the way you were educated to do it – with safe patient care always at the heart.”
Fixing working conditions and protecting patient care are the best retention tools we have.
Sadly, the statistics also reveal a very troubling situation when it comes to nurses’ well-being. More than half report experiencing some form of violence or abuse related to their job over the past year while half rate their job as very stressful, and almost one-third meet clinical thresholds for both anxiety and burnout (and almost one in four for depression). These numbers are the same both nationally and within Ontario.
“When it comes to health care, the conditions of work are the conditions of care,” adds Silas. “Still, in 2025, nurses are having to fight for better working conditions so they can provide better care.”
This inevitably leads to concerning outcomes for patients as well, with nurses more inclined to leave their jobs. Forty-four per cent of nurses surveyed report at least one near-miss or patient safety incident within the last six months, with 23 per cent reporting multiple near-misses or incidents over the same time.
One-third of respondents say they are somewhat or very dissatisfied with their choice of nursing as a career, with a quarter stating they will leave their job or the profession altogether. The findings are particularly stark for early-career nurses, with one in three considering quitting within the next year.
Despite these grim findings, nurses know what it will take to turn this situation around.
Enforced nurse-patient ratios is the top solution nurses say would influence them to stay in their job. They also overwhelmingly support a federal patient safety bill, which would include key measures such as implementing nurse-to-patient ratios, setting limits on consecutive hours nurses can work, and mandating a minimum of 4.5 hours of direct care per patient in long-term care homes.
“Fixing working conditions and protecting patient care are the best retention tools we have,” concludes Silas.
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