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The union representing thousands of medical workers in Nova Scotia is sounding the alarm over the launch of a new digital medical record system, and wants the province to intervene.
A survey from the NSGEU points to a majority of health-care staff struggling to keep up with an upcoming transition to the One Person One Record (OPOR) format.
The OPOR system, which first launched at the IWK Health Centre in December, is set to roll out at medical facilities across the Central Zone this Saturday.
But the union says the move is putting significant pressure on staff.
“They are telling us that they do not feel that they are adequately trained to go live on that date and they’re looking for more time,” said Sandra Mullen, NSGEU’s president.
NSGEU says they surveyed staff at the IWK four months after OPOR was implemented there. When asked to assess on a scale of 0 to 10 if they felt prepared for the transition, about 91 per cent provided a score of five or lower.
Forty-one per cent said they didn’t feel prepared at all.
The survey also asked the workers if they experienced or witnessed any stress for staff, missing documentation, medication errors, missed appointments or delays in care.
Of the 260 respondents, 250 reported additional stress for staff, 224 reported incorrect or missing documentation, 188 said patient care was delayed, and 97 reported missed appointments. There were 83 reports of medication errors and 58 reports of direct harm to patients.
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Four months after implementation began, 82.4 per cent of respondents reported they were still experiencing impacts of OPOR on their duties.
“When something does not work like it should, lives are at risk and so the stress is is incredibly high,” said Mullen.
Last Friday, Mullen wrote a letter asking the province to delay the roll out, but Nova Scotia Health says it’s sticking to its plan.
In a statement to Global News, the province’s Department of Health says it’s aware of the concerns but added that “change is not always easy, but we have every confidence that our clinicians have the skills, resilience, and persistence to achieve success for their teams and their patients.”
“We fully expected and planned for there to be a transition period, as has been experienced in other jurisdictions. We are still in that transition period now, and we understand and appreciate it has been frustrating and difficult at times,” the statement added.
Dr. Aaron Smith, medical executive director of Central Zone, says the new digital process will replace 80 paper-based systems and improve efficiencies.
“For providers going through this change, they received a huge amount of training and support. And that continues right in and through our implementation period,” said Smith, who adds that OPOR will be the single biggest change to health care in Nova Scotia and allow providers to access medical records all in one place.
“For the first time, a patient’s records will be available on one system so no matter where you access care in the Central Zone, providers and teams will have access to the same information,” he said.
NSGEU says it supports these upgrades to the health-care system but cautions but Mullen says the union wants to ensure it’s done correctly.
“It’s about trying to navigate that system while trying to save lives of patients,” she said.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
