Working conditions worsening at AHS?

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Hi everyone,

I know we've recently seen a similar thread on here but it seems things are continuing to get worse with AHS. My unit has not been replacing sick calls on days and evening shifts for a few months now, however just last week they have informed us that we will no longer be replacing on night shift either and this includes both HCAs and nurses. My unit has 39 beds and we are already working with bare bones staffing. We typically staff night shift with 3 HCAs and 2 LPNs plus one RN charge who we share with another unit and does not have a patient assignment. So now if someone calls in sick they will not replace and that leaves us with potentially one nurse!!i feel this a huge safety concern!!! Does anyone have any advice on what to do here? Or do we just need to suck it up?

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File the unsafe work load forms with AUPE and/or UNA.

If the charge phones in sick, they are going to have to replace her.

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File the unsafe work load forms with AUPE and/or UNA.

If the charge phones in sick, they are going to have to replace her.

Thanks Fiona,

Do you know where I might find these forms ( AUPE)? On a quick search I didn't see them. I will definitely be doing as you suggested.

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Thanks Fiona,

Do you know where I might find these forms ( AUPE)? On a quick search I didn't see them. I will definitely be doing as you suggested.

Contact any of the Stewards on the list posted on the information boards.

I can't remember what they are called, but the ones you are looking for are part of the "working short" campaign that appears in the Union magazine and there is/used to be posters around the hospitals about it. i just remember a nurse in blue scrubs.

Basically the form is filled up and given to a Steward or faxed in to the office. it goes to the hospital committee and the issues are supposed to be addressed. Basically it keeps the problem in the attention of management and the unit manager has to explain their reasons for letting the incident happen.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

The UNA version is a PRC (professional responsibility concern) form. I find it to be a rather toothless tool. People on my unit have been so intimidated and terrorized by the retaliation they see heaped on others for filing them that no one will any more. I obtained a copy of the Nursing Workload and Staffing Report form used by nurses in Manitoba, a document that details specifically what the potential and actual hazards, both to patients and to staff members, are on those short shifts and passed it on to UNA... about 5 years ago. The NWSR is mostly tick boxes with spots for narrative details when required that can be filled out in a matter of minutes. And we're still using the essentially useless form we've always used. It's too subjective and no one is really sure what they need to include so there's as much variation in the content as there are nurses in the province. The two that I've filed have been most unsatisfactorily dealt with.

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Thank you for your responses. I just feel something needs to be done just by really sure how to go about it... We need to draw the line somewhere. We can't keep letting management make conditions more and more unsafe while expecting more and more out of us. If nobody says anything it will only continue to get worse.

Are other units with AHS this bad??

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Specializes in geriatrics.

My facility has been regularly filling out PRC forms for months. Nothing has happened. We have been working short for 7 months because AHS refuses to hire contract nurses. It's not good. I'm also looking at Sask and MB now. I decided before I left nursing school that I would go where the jobs are. Not leaving yet....time will tell. Hopefully they wake up and staffing improves, but I don't see it getting any better for a while.

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My facility has been regularly filling out PRC forms for months. Nothing has happened. We have been working short for 7 months because AHS refuses to hire contract nurses. It's not good. I'm also looking at Sask and MB now. I decided before I left nursing school that I would go where the jobs are. Not leaving yet....time will tell. Hopefully they wake up and staffing improves but I don't see it getting any better for a while.[/quote']

Are the conditions any better is Sask and MB?

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Specializes in geriatrics.

There's more than one health authority in those Provinces for starters. AHS has the monopoly in AB, which is not good for various reasons. Every Province has its drawbacks, but those economies seem relatively stable.

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Specializes in AC, LTC, Community, Northern Nursing.

Isn't sask having an economy boom there now? They were hiring here in 2012.. I love the free stuff recruitors give out lol

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I think it might depend on where in SK, where I am, we're hiring.

I really don't know what's happening with the nursing side, I do know the nurses at my facility were working with management for an extra nurse. As a CCA, this year, we started off the year working short, no ot approved and filled out those CUPE workload forms and now we have approved overtime. There is a lot of ot at the hospital in town, not sure about the other hospital in our health region. The rest of the province I have no clue.

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