{"id":390464,"date":"2026-04-13T21:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/390464\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T21:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:42:10","slug":"10-of-11-nurse-practitioners-graduating-from-upei-are-staying-to-work-in-the-province","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/390464\/","title":{"rendered":"10 of 11 nurse practitioners graduating from UPEI are staying to work in the province"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Being part of “the change” is why nurse practitioner students said they joined the program at UPEI.<\/p>\n

Ask and they’ll tell you: that change means seeing the heavy demands on P.E.I.’s health-care system and wanting to be part of the solution to bring more primary care to Islanders.<\/p>\n

And on Monday, they were celebrated \u2014 and 10 of the 11 graduates committed to staying and working in the province. <\/p>\n

“It’s extremely meaningful and I’m very proud to get to be part of the change that nurse practitioners are making here in the province,” said graduate Chantal Smith after a news conference at UPEI.<\/p>\n

“We all really value our role within the comprehensive health-care teams that exist on Prince Edward Island, and so to get to celebrate the advancement of this with 10 more providers joining teams amongst the province, it’s just really exciting.”<\/p>\n

\"AChantal Smith says it’s amazing to celebrate with her classmates as they prepare to graduate as nurse practitioners. (Shane Hennessey\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Smith and her classmates are UPEI’s largest graduating class of nurse practitioners yet.<\/p>\n

Fellow grad Ashton Martin said it’s a “surreal” moment to celebrate with her classmates, knowing most of them have jobs locked in on Prince Edward Island.<\/p>\n

“We are not blind to the health-care shortage that has been happening, so I feel that nurse practitioners are really well positioned to address some of the areas for improvement within Health P.E.I.,” Martin said.<\/p>\n

“Primary care is certainly one of those, so I’m excited to be part of that improvement.”<\/p>\n

\"AAshton Martin says she’s excited to start work soon as a newly graduated nurse practitioner. (Shane Hennessey\/CBC)<\/p>\n

P.E.I. Health Minister Cory Deagle said hiring the 10 nurse practitioners is a “huge boost” to the health-care system.<\/p>\n

The new hires will take some of the roughly 33,800 people off of the provincial patient registry, he said, but it’s still too early to determine how many in total. <\/p>\n

Regardless, Deagle said this is a win for the new graduates, the health-care system and especially patients. <\/p>\n

“These grads have worked in the system as [registered nurses] and now they’re going to be working in the system as NPs, so they have lots of experience. They’re going to hit the ground running,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a huge boost for access to primary care on P.E.I.”<\/p>\n

Martin said anyone working in the health-care system who’s thinking about becoming a nurse practitioner should remember that they can do it \u2014 even while they’re working.<\/p>\n

“You should listen to that calling and try to go to a program. Apply. You won’t regret it,” Martin said. “Make sure you have a support network set up before, during and after.”<\/p>\n

Smith agrees.<\/p>\n

“I would strongly encourage anyone that’s considering anyone becoming a nurse practitioner to pursue that,” she said. <\/p>\n

“The value that our role will bring to the Island’s health-care system is extremely invaluable.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-390464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}