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Pediatric Critical Care Columnist

NotReady4PrimeTime, RN

5 Articles; 7,358 Posts

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Our nurse educator has just resigned. There are 8 people who are still on orientation for whom she is supposed to provide a resource. AHS has said she can't be replaced until and unless our patient care manager files all the necessary paperwork and Dr Duck-it personally approves it. So I guess we'll all have to pick up the slack.

RGN1

1,700 Posts

Specializes in med/surg.
OK, we've all heard that they are eliminating 100 managerial positions.

We got the OT ban announcement last week, followed by the "part timers should pick up shifts before OT is permitted" (well, duh, that's in the contracts, can't help it if the staffing office failed to follow the rules), followed by the those on OT will be floated off to units within their services that are short.

How about the wonderful pens for nursing week?

How is AHS affecting your work day?

What pens? We got squat, nada, here in Calgary! :-) Tell a lie, they emailed a letter to all the nurses saying how wonderful we were & how much we were appreciated! HAH!!!

ALL the RN job postings disappeared, OVERNIGHT! Nothing has been posted since 20th May RN wise.NOTHING!!! normally there's at least 4-6 per day!! There were over 100 RN jobs listed before May 20th, now there are 15 (most of which are casual lines!) No way were all those posts filled - most hadn't even reached their closure dates!

Still, as ever we keep on going, it'll blow over eventually, then they'll be more than desperate! I just hope it doesn't affect the PNP that has just been submitted for me by my hospital.

RGN1

1,700 Posts

Specializes in med/surg.

Actually I just checked the job postings & now there are just 8 jobs in the ENTIRE trust!!

How can Duck-it even pretend on his blog that this is not a hiring freeze!??

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist

NotReady4PrimeTime, RN

5 Articles; 7,358 Posts

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
Actually I just checked the job postings & now there are just 8 jobs in the ENTIRE trust!!

How can Duck-it even pretend on his blog that this is not a hiring freeze!??

The language AHS wants used is that hirings are on "hold", not that there's a hiring freeze. As of this moment those whose jobs are on the line are being held in limbo; as one person said, "Those of us who may find ourselves living on the streets might want to move to a warmer climate before the weather turns cold again." It's quite obvious that they're making it all up as they go along and don't have even an outline of a plan.

Our UNA local gives us nursing week gifts. This year we got UNA pens, a barrier device for providing AR and a retractable badge clip. Woo hoo. But it's better than the bupkis we got from the hospital.

Guest233447

118 Posts

I just cannot believe how fast, and how far south the economy in Alberta went. So much for surpluses. If there were massive shortages of health-care professionals during the boom, are we to believe all of a sudden those needs dropped as fast as the price of oil? HAH!

Things are going to get ugly. I imagine that by the time I'm finished my training (2 years, start the clock in September) either they'll be desperate for bodies to fill the positions or you won't want to set foot near ANY hospital in Alberta for fear of the nursing shortages creating nightmares for everyone.

Brutal.

Fiona59

8,343 Posts

Hey when I graduated 10 years back, it was the NORM for new grads to wind up in the float pool as casuals. Those that made it into active treatment felt lucky. The vast bulk of my class went into LTC/Continuing Care to pay the student loans.

The last couple of years new grads were going into fulltime lines (both PN and RN).

It's going to be a bumpy and interesting few years ahead of us...

Fiona59

8,343 Posts

So, our beloved health minister has decided there is not a nursing shortage!!!! We don't need to hire overseas because...local are working more because we want the hours....

Sure some people wanted full time hours and the jobs weren't there but they found full time lines when they went hiring overseas. Does this mean that those full time lines will be available to local nurses who want them???

I need a career in politics.

gillymcmilly

2 Posts

Hi, I'm a UK nurse that is in the process of immigrating to Alberta. Just heard recently that Alberta has stopped recruiting International nurses.....can't tell you how gutted I am to hear this.

Had a look on the AHS website for jobs and was shocked to see that they are few and far between. I would be more than happy to fill all those night shifts if it meant getting a job in Alberta.

Is it usual to work part time as a nurse in Alberta? Do you pick up the hours else where?

RGN1

1,700 Posts

Specializes in med/surg.

Apparently the vast majority of the original job postings, that so suddenly disappeared, have been approved & will be going up again.

Right now they have halted International recruitment in Alberta but I suspect that will change again at some point!

Part time is perfectly nomal here ( I want to drop myself) you can make up hours by taking OT.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist

NotReady4PrimeTime, RN

5 Articles; 7,358 Posts

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Alberta nurses are pushing back! The United Nurses of Alberta has launched a massive grievance against AHS and the provincial government based on reports received from rank-and-file members working in the trenches.

Alberta's nurses union has filed a massive grievance with the health authority for not posting job vacancies and forcing short-handed nurses to work overtime for regular pay and without vacations.

The policy to not fill jobs goes against contractual obligations and resulted in severe, continuing staff shortages, the United Nurses of Alberta says.

The shortage means patients wait longer for pain medication, bathroom breaks or regular rollovers to prevent pressure sores, said Marg Hayne, who represents 1,800 registered nurses at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

See the rest of the article here:

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Health/Alta+nurses+push+back/1670262/story.html

What Dr. Duck-it and his immediate superior, Mr. I-Graduated-From-Grade-Nine Liepert had to say about the postings was that every one of them had to be justified through a new vacancy management programme so that the budget could be contained. Hmmm... paying 300 hours of overtime in only 48 hours on a single unit (my unit, June 4 and 5) is going to be more cost-effective than filling the positions that created the shortfall, is it? Dr. Duck-it might want to return his economics PhD for a refund!

Fiona59

8,343 Posts

The RN contract is different from the LPN contract in regards to OT. Part time PNs can only claim OT pay on their alternate weekends off. The part time RNs are covered by the UNA contract which gives them designated days off, on which OT is a paid, and designated days off when straight time is paid.

The AUPE LPNs lost this clause in 2006 (if I remember correctly) and were told the RNs and RPNs would lose it in the next contract. Alberta Health never brought it up. I work with RNs who remain part timers for that very clause. They are guaranteed part time hours and by picking up an extra two shifts on the designated OT days make more than a full time RN. Over the last couple of months before the "not freeze" is was getting pretty obvious who staffing liked to have on the units and many RNs couldn't even pick up a straight time shift.

The article you posted Jan states that one surgical unit worked one RN short one shift. That would be a luxury on my unit. We are constantly one RN and one LPN short. It's so bad that we just fill up incident reports reporting the short staff situtation without even thinking about it. Five fresh post ops on a day shift is brutal but common.

RAH's Surgical LPNs are working at full scope and most shifts, I think UNA would be hard pressed to figure out who was their member and who was a "lesser skilled LPN". I've never had my assignment changed because my patient became unstable, or if the empty bed was filled by a ICU discharge. Hell, the experienced LPNs on my unit get more complex patients than RNs with less than two years experience because "we know you guys can handle it".

Liepert needs to come in and be a patient. We've never forgot the patient who tried to pull the "Ed Stelmach farms next me" crap to try and get a private room

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist

NotReady4PrimeTime, RN

5 Articles; 7,358 Posts

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

I don't know how they chose the quotes they put into that article. There were some much more telling ones on the UNA website. The truth is, we're short everywhere, every day. Our unit got 5 unexpected admissions on June 4 between 5:30 and 7 pm and we were already running with 4 OTs that shift and had 7 OTs scheduled for nights. They conned one of the day staff into staying until 11 (and coming back at 7 am the next morning) and found an 8th person to do OT for the full 12 so that we'd have just enough nurses for the patients on the unit. (We staff 1:1 ideally becuase of the acuity of our patients.) I spent that night trying to keep two children who were not my patients alive until morning. I saw my own patient for about 5 minutes an hour and that's just not acceptable in an ICU!

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