This and that for your Sunday reading. – Kelly Grant writes that the toll from COVID-19 includes driving many workers out of the nursing profession. And Kim Siever notes that while the UCP is driving nurses and doctors out of Alberta by shrieking that they’re overpaid and working to starve
Continue readingTag: Nursing
THE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: Happy Nursing Week to All The Nurses on Team Nick
Over the years, we have welcomed nurses into our family. Community and long-term care nurses are a special breed. They understand teamwork with family and how to make clinical nursing seem like normal home life. Nicholas has had many, …
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: The growing role of Practical Nurses
New Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) data paints a picture of rapid change in nursing in Ontario, especially for Practical Nurses (called “RPNs” in Ontario) . Here is a summary of the most interesting data from those charts concerning Ontario. Note: The rapid increase in the Ontario RPN workforce (52.3%
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: RPN workforce increasing in Ontario
Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) have made a modest come-back in Ontario hospitals, according to new Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) data. After slipping back 1.8% in 2011, the RPN hospital workforce is up 6.3% in 2012, increasing from 13,126 to 13,954. Since 2008, the RPN hospital workforce has increased
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Best. Comment. Ever.
Blog reader “Sarah” REALLY gave me a big old can of whoop-ass when she wrote something on my blog post “The Value of Nurses” She really schooled me! So take it away “Sarah”! Nursing is critical to patient health and recovery. Nurses are responsible for the day to day care
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: A Blogger, Allegedly
So, it’s been awhile, eh? It was Chuck Norris who found me. To everyone who emailed and texted and Tweeted, thanks. Everything is hunky and dory. I’m not dead, ok? Let’s get that out of the way. Nor am I afflicted with a Chronic Debilitating Illness, unless you count members of my family. (That
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Less nursing, more medical errors
Recent Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) data indicates that Ontario has a relatively high number of “nursing-sensitive adverse events” compared to other provinces. An “adverse event” (or “medical error”) occurs when something happens in the hospital that hurts rather than helps a patient. Over the last three reported years (ending
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Nursing levels low and getting lower
Yesterday, I wrote about the significant lack of nursing care in Ontario hospitals compared to the other provinces. Even on a Canada-wide basis, there was 5.32 hours more nursing care per patient than in Ontario in 2010-11 (year end March 31). That sounds kind of shocking. But it looks
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Major decline in nursing in Ontario hospitals
There was a sharp reduction in the number of Registered Nurses (RNs) working in Ontario hospitals in 2011, with a cut of 2,750 RNs to 58,699 according to new CIHI data. That’s a 4.47% decrease in one year. Community health numbers also took a very hard hit, while numbers were up very
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Privacy, judgment and ethics aside, I have caring to do.
A few years ago I cared for an acquaintance. She was a friend of a friend who had been living out of the country for several years, but had come home to visit family friends. She was rushed in to the ED and before I even knew who she was
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Charge Mommy
A few days ago, one of my colleagues said to me after a particularly frantic day in the ED, “You guys aren’t Charge Nurses, you’re Charge Mommies.” She is right. This is what we do: tell all the kids don’t fight and play nice fix boo-boos give hugs as needed, or
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Treat the Patient Not the Disease
Abscesses and wounds, and especially abscesses and wounds which are infected, suppurative, purulent, and generally awful, are embarrassing for patients and difficult for nurses. Embarrassing for patients because they are disfiguring and smell badly, and difficult for nurses for really the same reasons. Personally I don’t mind caring for and
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: How Nurses Practice
Working on a PowerPoint presentation, and did up this (yet to be formatted) slide: Which column do you think represents the current state of nursing practice? Filed under: Good Nursing Practice is Practising with the Heart and Mind, Nursing Naval Gazing Tagged: good nursing practice, Nurses, Nursing
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: We Get No Respect
From Ian Miller at ImpactedNurse.com, a few thoughts on under-utilized and under-recognized senior nurses who are leaking out of the profession: Nursing has few opportunities for promotion and recognition of senior expertise within the clinical setting. How often have you watched senior (and I’m talking about years of experience here) nurses
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: When the Police Come Calling
The police are more-or-less a permanent fixture in every Emergency department. They bring in the drunks, the suicidal, the psychotic, the homeless and yes, the criminal, who have either sustained injuries as a result of their activities, or else have developed sudden (and convenient) cardiac symptoms upon their arrest. Most of
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate the Nurse
An unpleasant, no, ugly and unfortunate situation at Victoria General Hospital is preventing a woman from seeing her son. From the National Post article: A 73-year-old woman who travelled to Victoria from South Africa to care for her seriously ill son has been banned from Victoria General Hospital after she
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Epic Hitler Emergency Department Charge Nurse Rant
I never thought I’d use the words “Epic” and “Hitler” and “Emergency Department” and “Charge Nurse” and “Rant” as a blog title, but what the hell. I was bored one night and thought it would be fun to make a Hitler rant parody. Filed under: What Passes for Humour Around
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: A Nurse Contemplates Leaving the Profession
Dinner last night with an old friend who toils in the mines of Labour and Delivery. She has worked there for four years. She told me of an incident not too long ago working the night shift, faced with a post-partum patient who was bleeding, hypotensive, and tachycardic, in short,
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Guest Post: How We Can Fix the Malaise in the Nursing Profession
Nurse Practitioner (Photo credit: ekea7) by Amanda Trujillo If the newer generations of nurses out there are more confused than ever about their roles in healthcare — they should be. I’m one of the newer generations of nurses and I — AM — CONFUSED. Seriously. Think about it. We are taught
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Fat Nurses Need Not Apply Revisited
More on the Texas hospital, Citizens Medical Center, which banned fat people from being hired. Citizens Medical Center, you might remember, made it policy to exclude new hires with a body mass index >35, and explicitly stated employees appearance should “fit with a representational image or specific mental projection of the
Continue reading