danger pay

fergus51 · Jun 4, 2003

I don't think it's really fair, but I understand the necessity of attracting nurses to work on these units.

I personally don't think danger pay is really fair in any area of nursing. I don't really like anything in nursing which gives the message that some nurses' work is worth more than others. Every area of nursing is dangerous (you'd think the fact that most of the nurses who got SARS in this latest outbreak were working a regular floor would prove that) so I don't see a point in it.

healthyone · Jun 4, 2003

i believe danger pay has existed on the quiet at some facilities since the onset of sars. i have a collegue who works at scar. grace who was earning danger pay back in march

toronto rn · Jun 4, 2003

I'm glad for the health care workers who will benefit from this but totally miffed that only a segregated few, out of the many who have risked their safety, will be recognized.

From the Toronto Star

SARS workers' pay to double

Deal would pay full-time nurses roughly what temps are paid

The Ontario government will cover the cost of doubling pay for health-care workers on SARS duty at four Toronto hospitals, Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement said today.

Clement said the government supports the move to increase compensation for front-line workers but did not endorse requests from other health workers in hospitals dealing with severe acute respiratory system that they also get more money.

"There's a lot of pressure right now," said Clement.

"(But) if you're saying that the solution to SARS is to pay everyone double in the system, that isn't the solution."

Clement said the four hospitals, which have formed an alliance to combat the SARS outbreak, are a "special case."

"That has to be recognized as such and that has to be remunerated as such."

Nurses combating SARS have been particularly unhappy that agency temps brought in to help in the fight are being paid at a premium.

The new hospital deal would pay nurses at the top end of the salary scale about $66 an hour, roughly what the temporary nurses are being paid.

"I'd rather have a full-time nurse than an agency nurse," said Clement.

X-ray technicians and other staff who work with SARS patients or in SARS screening will also get the premium.

The Ontario Nurses Association says the extra money is welcome but wants it paid to all nurses at risk of contracting SARS at work, even if they aren't working directly with SARS cases.

The four hospitals are Scarborough General, North York General, St. Michael's and the Etobicoke site of William Osler Health Centre.

All are part of a new alliance formed to handle the bulk of SARS cases in the new cluster discovered late last month.

Clement's comments came as nurses gathered at Scarborough General to protest the province's handling of the outbreak. They have previously expressed concerns that they have not been adequately protected from contracting the illness.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton, who attended the rally, said he will introduce a private member's bill in the provincial legislature in an effort to initiate a public inquiry into how Ontario has responded to SARS.

"The refusal of the government to hold a public inquiry says to me that this is a government that has something to hide," Hampton said.

The health workers want the province to implement a standardized system at hospitals provincewide to better protect them from infectious disease.

Hampton said the government acted prematurely in promoting tourism and business following the economic fallout from the first outbreak of SARS and should have focused on harnessing the disease while protecting health-care workers.

"The government let its guard down and the government doesn't want the public to know it," Hampton said.

"We need a full, open and independent public inquiry that provides health-care workers with whistle-blower protection-that's exactly what my bill prescribes."

Ontario Premier Ernie Eves has promised a review but will not commit to a full-scale public inquiry.

In an open letter to health-care workers today, Clement acknowledged their safety concerns.

"We are taking appropriate steps to help prevent the spread of SARS and other infectious diseases," he said.

Clement also praised their dedication, but reminded them of their No.1 priority: "While I know how hard it is sometimes, our patients must remain our priority."

renerian, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2003

Interesting

renerian

steven44121 · Jun 5, 2003

I feel that the danger pay is warrented, though I think it should be extended to any nurses working with sars pts., not just at the four designtated hospitals.

The choices are double pay for the staff nurses or continue what they are presently doing, which is paying that rate to agency staff.

fergus51 · Jun 5, 2003

Would we also ask for danger pay for working with patients with TB, HIV, Hep C, Necrotizing fascitis, etc?

Mito · Jun 5, 2003

Hello All,

I think that danger pay is a marvelous political trick to distract nurses and the public away from the real issues surronding sars. These I believe to be:

Poor information exchange between the government and frontline workers

No real willingness to put the kind of money into sars units to minimize the risk (ie. actual completetly enclosed suits with individual breathing equipment)

And ofcourse the old stand-by the lack of commitment on the goverenment's part to stabalize health care funding, offer some real FULL TIME jobs (my plumber works full-time for crying outloud and is paid more!!!)

In summary the danger pay is just a band aid solution (which in reality how well does a band aid work on a virus???)

Mito

tues · Jun 6, 2003

I would like to know about the Nurses who have to go into work isolation. They can still go to work, but are isolated from anything else including eating with their family, sleeping with their husbands, going out for an evening, or even to buy groceries. If I treat someone, and are put into work isolation, two days before I start vacation, who will reimburse me for my vacation time, or for the money I have paid in advance to travel somewhere, or the cottage i have rented etc. This also needs to be resolved, because we would be giving up a lot including our ability to unwind and restore ourselves before our return to work:confused:

pickledpepperRN · Jun 6, 2003

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030604/wl_canada_nm/canada_sars_nurses_col_1

SARS Nurses Face Severe Risk, Toronto Doctor Warns

Wed Jun 4, 2:58 PM ET

By Rajiv Sekhri

TORONTO (Reuters) - Wearing two layers of gloves, a mask and a gown

may not prevent a nurse treating a SARS (news - web sites) patient from

getting the deadly disease, a leading microbiologist in Toronto said on

Wednesday.

Dr. Donald Low, chief of microbiology at Mount

Sinai Hospital, said there is evidence that some

procedures, such as inserting breathing tubes

into patients, are extremely risky and the

transmission of the severe acute respiratory

syndrome virus can occur even when all

precautions are taken.

"Clearly the experience in Toronto is that these

people are at an increased risk of acquiring

SARS," Low said. "People just don't understand

the kind of risk they (nurses) are putting themselves at working in these

wards."

Low said nurses in SARS units could soon be wearing full protection suits --

that look like space suits with their own oxygen systems -- to protect

themselves. Already, one hospital is requiring such suits for SARS nurses,

Low said.

Recognizing the risk, four hospitals in Toronto have said they will double the

pay for nurses dealing with SARS patients. Senior nurses could get C$66

($49) an hour.

But for some that is not enough.

"What they really need is for the government to put worker and public safety

first by focusing on eradicating SARS, not telling us to live and work in the

new normal," said Sid Ryan, the Ontario president of the Canadian Union of

Public Employees, which organized a rally of nurses at a hospital in a

Toronto suburb.

Tony Clement, Ontario's health minister, said on Wednesday in an open

letter to health-care workers: "We want you to know that we are aware of

some of the concerns you have."

He added: "People are counting on our health-care system and on each and

every health-care worker in our system."

Toronto, with 32 SARS deaths, is the only place outside of Asia where the

virus that causes the flu-like illness has claimed lives. There are 77 probable

and suspect cases of SARS in Toronto and more than 5,000 people are in

quarantine.

"More money alone will do nothing," said Doris Grinspun, executive director

of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario.

She said nurses are overworked and need time to rest and also need

additional training in infection control.

"What we have here is an exhausted work force. Even if you know all the

techniques, without rest you unwillingly may do things you may not notice,"

Grinspun said.

Even seemingly innocuous actions like scratching your hair or your ear can

lead to infection in a SARS ward, she added.

($1=$1.37 Canadian)

pickledpepperRN · Jun 6, 2003

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030605/ap_on_he_me/canada_sars_virus_8

Canada Nurses Rally Outside SARS Hospital

Thu Jun 5, 7:07 AM ET

By TOM COHEN, Associated Press Writer

TORONTO - Health care workers called for safer conditions in caring for

SARS (news - web sites) patients, as officials announced three more

probable cases in Canada's largest city, including two nurses.

Officials said Wednesday the number of

probable cases of severe acute respiratory

syndrome was 67, three more than the previous

day. Two of the three new cases were nurses

exposed while inserting breathing tubes in

SARS patients, they said.

Inserting the tubes was proving to be a risky

procedure for nurses despite the double layer of

protective gloves, masks and gowns they wear,

said Dr. Andrew Simor, a microbiologist

involved in the city's SARS containment effort.

"It's obviously very disturbing that health care

workers still are getting sick," Simor said.

Earlier, scores of nurses rallied for better pay

and working conditions in facing the

pneumonia-like virus, which has killed 32

people here. They complained they are asked

to confront a dangerous disease at regular pay

levels, while agency nurses hired for temporary

duty are better paid.

Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement

responded to the protest by saying the

provincial government would provide funds for

premium pay for nurses and other front-line

health workers at four Toronto hospitals that will

handle all the city's SARS cases.

Clement said it was up to the four hospitals to

decide whether to give full-time nurses the

premium pay, similar to the $48 an hour agency

nurses can get.

At Scarborough General Hospital, one of the

four SARS hospitals, protesting nurses said the issue involved more than

money.

"None of us knows what the effects of SARS will be in the long-term," said

Lesline Alleyne, who works in a SARS unit.

She complained that nurses use respirator masks that block 95 percent of

contaminants, instead of better ones considered 100 percent effective.

Toronto has so far avoided a new World Health Organization (news - web

sites) travel advisory despite a renewed outbreak of SARS weeks after

officials thought they had the illness under control.

The U.N. health agency discussed the possibility of warning against travel to

Toronto on both Tuesday and Wednesday, but decided against it because

the new cases appeared under control with no spread in the general

population, said WHO spokesman Dick Thompson.

Health officials in Toronto provided further signs the outbreak was receding,

saying that 987 people remained in home quarantine because of possible

SARS exposure, down from more than 5,000 the day before. More than 200

others are being monitored for SARS-like symptoms.

Toronto authorities thought they had the illness under control after the initial

cluster appeared in March and April, but an undiagnosed case at North York

General Hospital led to a further spread among other patients, family

members and health care workers.

The second cluster of SARS cases landed Toronto back on a WHO list of

SARS-affected cities or regions. The U.N. agency also previously issued a

travel advisory for Toronto, but rescinded it a week later after Canadian

officials complained it was unwarranted and promised better screening of

international travelers for SARS.

toronto rn · Jun 7, 2003

I believe some nurses and health care workers will be compensated for lost shifts due to quarantine. I saw a government notice about it at work last night but I don't know if it covers inconvenienced vacation time , by rights it should.

I spent yet another shift working in the SARS critical care area and am schedualed to work there for the next two weeks. The RRT that was on reported how health care workers from Scarborough General Hospital were already starting to receive double pay, herself included, as she works there too.

I agree that the quickly agreed upon danger pay is a ploy to distract from the bigger issues, but it still smarts to work with the same risks, same patients, and not receive the same pay. I have decided to start working with an agency on a casual basis, not just because of the money, but because the politics are too much and I need a break from it. Safety comes last unless you work at the select 4 hospitals. The nurses working the SARS unit were informed this morning at Screening that the 3M 9211 N-95 masks that a lot of the nurses were fitted for, wouldn't be available in the future. These masks were in short supply so the government has recommended that the nurses at St Michaels hospital get first dibs at them. Nice to know that we count.