The province of New Brunswick has announced that 100 new medical seats will be opened at Beal University in Bangor, Maine, as part of a new incentive to get nurses to stay within the province.
Announced today in Saint John, ministers said that a grant would be available to those that choose to live stateside to do the program in the United States.
The two $3,000 grants can be used for travel and lodging expenses and to help with costs to get the licence switched stateside. Applicants must sign a one-year return to service agreement, meaning they will have to stay in New Brunswick to work as a registered nurse after the program.
The grant is optional, and the Ministry of Post Secondary Education, Training and Labour noted that it is not mandatory and that students can go elsewhere to work if they choose not to take the grant.
Three weeks prior to the announcement, the minister responsible had a different tune about the retention of healthcare professionals.
“Retention rates for physicians working in New Brunswick have been much better for those studying outside of the province,” Trevor Holder noted on Oct. 3.
Meanwhile, the president of Beal University, Sheryl DeWalt, noted that the four-hour entrance exam is “quite difficult,” and the school has a 40-per cent fail rate for those who apply.
DeWalt said that students would then have to reapply if they don’t pass that exam.
Only 14 months of the 32-month program will be spent in Maine, with the rest of the time learning online from anywhere. The three-year course was dubbed an “accelerated” program, where it shaves down the extra semesters that a New Brunswick university would have by taking summers off.
When asked by reporters, Minister Holder said that universities shouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t included in conversations with the province.
When asked today in Moncton, the president of the New Brunswick Nurses Union, Paula Doucet, said that she was surprised by the move, saying nursing seats have been an issue in the province for a long time.
“I was under the understanding that Beal University was to help support getting more baccalaureate nursing students in the system. I know that they’ve been in talks with Post Secondary Education, Training and Labour for a number of years now,” said Doucet.
The Province says the program will start in January 2023.
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