Description: The Auditor General of New Brunswick, Paul Martin, has decided that his Office will examine contracts for travel nurses paid for by the taxpayer. The contracts came under scrutiny after a national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, published an article on the use of high-cost travelling nurses in a number of provinces during the staffing crisis associated with the pandemic. The New Brunswick Nurses Union had called for an audit earlier, noting that some of these contracted nurses were billed at over $300 an hour. That rate is about six times the wage paid to a local nurse.
Date: March 6, 2024
Source: cbc.ca
Discussion points:
1) Did that original Globe and Mail article find the travel nurse issue in your province? https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-how-canadian-hospitals-grew-dependent-on-expensive-out-of-town-nurses/
2) Do you know any students graduating from nursing on your campus? Are any of them pursuing jobs as travelling nurses?
3) Page 14-35 of Wiley’s Auditing: A Practical Approach tells us of the two categories of assurance engagements. Which of these two do you think the Auditor General of New Brunswick will be pursuing in the travelling nurses audit?
Leave a Reply