Nurse shortage acute Some nurses forced to take 16 hour shifts
"Don't tell me we don't need more nurses."
On June 2, UNA asked nurses to report current examples of how the nursing shortage is affecting their work and their patients. Here is some of what the nurses are reporting. Note that the facilities and locations have been removed so as not to identify these nurses.
"We have both an acute care and a Long Term Care unit which are very separated. Both units are staffed with one RN 24 hours a day so whenever someone is off they need to be replaced. Our full staff complement is 8.82 nurses, and with our present vacancies of 2 FTEs that means we are short over 22% of our RN staffing. All these empty shifts always have to be filled somehow."
"I took a peek at my phone and I was called every day for overtime from the 21st-28th of May....I didnt go back much farther in the caller ID."
"Last Thursday, May 28th, the nurses scheduled to work the 12 hour night shift starting at 1900 hours were called in the mid-afternoon and asked if they could go in early at 1500 and work a 16 hour shift."
"New staff that were still being precepted were told that they were to take a full assignment because we were so short. Thankfully, their preceptors put their foot down and threatened Professional Responsibility Complaints. A few staff worked 16 hour shifts to make do. Even with the 16 hour workers, we were still short!"
"We've been short a Full-time RN in Long Term Care as well as a .58 part-time position for several months now. Contract workers and current RNs (often on overtime) and sometimes managers have been filling these positions. Yet the job postings went down and haven't been reposted. Since we only ever have one RN per shift, they absolutely need to be replaced. The current practice of using overtime and contract nurses is very expensive. We also need casuals for both units, as almost all sick time now is being covered by overtime. Current nurses are pretty good at picking up extra shifts at straight time, or changing around their shifts to allow for vacation coverage when they have lots of forewarning, but last minute call ins usually result in overtime. Don't tell me we don't need more nurses."
"But now vacancies don't seem to be getting posted (our manager has sent in the request but as of a couple of days ago it was not on the web). We are losing a nurse to Saskatchewan, home of the signing bonus. So once again we have some shifts with only one nurse to assess and treat up to 50 plus patients in the ER department. You would think with all the cutting in all areas (and of course I speak for rural where we are 2 hours from tertiary care) Mr. Liepert might worry if he should get chest pain out touring this great province. Is there a nursing shortage ...you bet there is!"
"June 1 and 2, 2009 The surgical unit worked one RN short, no one could be found to work. Four medical beds have been closed. We are not utilizing OR and procedures to their full potential. We are not reschedualing OR time, decreasing colonoscopy and gastroscopies."
“On nights we have one RN in the ER. On the May long weekend she had someone on a nitro drip in ER waiting for a bed and then was chased by a drug addict and had to lock herself in the admitting area and wait for the RCMP to come. Rural nursing is extremely short and it is not looking good for us. No one is safe out here patients or staff.”
"On May 31 there was a sick call that was not replaced so four beds on Unit 28 were closed instead. We also had 9 patients in our Cardiac Care Unit awaiting angiograms because the Diagnostic Imaging department is now closed from 4-8pm when they used to be open."
"In our hospital this past weekend 2 RN's and 1 LPN each worked a 16 hour shift. All job postings have been taken down. We have at least 3 RN's who want positions."
Shortage or no shortage?
There are critical shortages of health service providers. Alberta needs more than 1,500 nurses, and by 2020 the province may be short by more than 6,000 nurses.
– Vision 2020 Government's Health care plan
I have never been prepared to subscribe to the fact that we were short several thousand nurses.
– Health and Wellness Minister Ron Liepert Global News, June 3, 2009
|
