Alberta Health Services

Fiona59 · Jul 8, 2009

You see the wage debate is what has angered LPNs over the years. We make less than lab techs and health records coders. All are roughly two year diploma courses yet the lab techs start at nearly $7/hour more than an LPN. Finally, an LPN with seven+ years of experience makes nearly as much as a NEW grad RN.

If I had to do it over, I'd be coding down in a nice quiet cubicle, wearing street clothes, without having to deal with bodily fluids, relatives, and the insane amount of work a floor nurse has to get through in a shift. Oh, and they get all their breaks. I love the latest, no charting on breaks diktat, and you HAVE to take your breaks. Like who has time?

nurseinlimbo · Jul 8, 2009

That's what I mean, if this is Duckett's way of cutting the budget, by reducing the cost of labor, I think they are going to find that the union is going to demand higher wages for the LPNs increased scope of practice, because if they were already feeling that way, they will definitely want more compensation for the increase in responsibility. But even amongst the LPNs I've talked to, the older ones understand that they are being used (when working at increased scope), the younger ones have been told it is their right to practice at full scope and feel they should expect nothing less. If it were me, I'd want to be compensated....

I would be a computer programmer, or an accountant, with weekends and evenings off, or better yet, in an ideal world, a horse trainer/barn manager, but can't afford to be.

sabrino76 · Jul 9, 2009

It seems that what Mr Duckett and his mickey mouse club set out to do is turn employees against each other as a way of deflecting the real issues affecting Alberta Healthcare Services and a good example is this debate betwen RNs and LPNs wages. Why? Nurses are deserving of whatever they get paid, otherwise why don't these suit and tie wearing individuals come hang those I.Vs, comfort grieving families, clean bums and and then put a price on it.... Some of us have seen it before, where cuts are made, hospitals always come out worse with a bigger deficit. Know why...... more money is spent on OT and doing a massive recruitment 6 months down the line. Haven't some of us seen this before?

Fiona59 · Jul 16, 2009

So now that our freedom of expression has effectively been taken away, do you think Duckit will be snooping here???

Fiona59 · Sep 16, 2009

It's just been announced that 350 acute care beds will be closed in Edmonton and Calgary. But Liepert predicts we'll be pleasantly surprized?

Does he mean he's going to change those "Acute Care of the Elderly" beds into LTC beds?

Is there any truth to the rumours that the U and the Miz are handing out pink slips to nurses??

Oh, and let's not forget Ducket is in line to get a 25%bonus for his good work!

Fiona59 · Sep 21, 2009

How to win friends and make the taxpayer love you??

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Duckett+loggerheads+with+Australian+nurses/2016662/story.html

and best of all:

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Duckett+bullying+nurses+union+says/2015010/story.html

now, the only time I get a "tea break" is at home.

linzz · Sep 22, 2009

I read all of these articles and this guy Duckett, is seriously deluded. I really hope that the public wakes up to what the reality of living under his regime will be. Tea breaks, LOL!

In regards to acute geri beds, I guess his plan doesn't include the elderly that are poor or have serious psych issues.

Anyways, I sign off in solidarity.

RGN1 · Sep 22, 2009

Yes - I challenge "Duck-it" to come & spend a shift on my unit & see how many coffee breaks & tea breaks & lunch breaks and so on HE gets!!!!!

bscn_rn_10_years · Sep 28, 2009

Has anyone taken a look at the Edmonton Journal and read the blog on Nursing students and their appearance at the legislature?

Gettin public support is going to be difficult. Some on this site have actually stated "the nurses need to get off their high horse and down with the real world". One person stated " that she saves lives for a living" and was ripped to shreads .....and was called a liar. I know I have saved lives in the ER a few times , why would this statment be hard to believe????They are very mean!!!!! When I read the blog it makes me want to do something else or move out of the province,...as we are obviously not appreciated.

The people of Alberta need to wake up and see that our public health care system is dying fast and they don't seem to care......I really don't understand. Makes me nervous for my job, I am looking at other options ie : other provinces , Arizona etc. Everyone thinks we do our jobs for money, that wasen't even a thought when I entered university...all I wanted to do was to help people.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Sep 28, 2009

That particular story's comments are actually fairly mild compared to some of the other recent stories about nurses and health care. There is a certain segment of the population that truly doesn't get that when nurses speak up about cuts they're actually speaking up about quality of care, accessibility of care, patient safety and measurable outcomes. They also have a distorted view of what it is we do as nurses. Their perceptions are skewed by mass-media representations of nursing and all the negative stereotypes out there. All they see is $$... Why on Earth should I be paid $40 an hour to empty bedpans? If only that's all I did in a 12 hour shift.

I was speaking to a fellow yesterday who is a painter by trade. (He and his crew just painted the interior of my house.) He had a scope done last week and has a small thrombus in his cephalic vein from his IV. He asked me my opinion of it so I gave him the Reader's Digest version of thrombus development and lysis. He asked me if I had to go back to work today so I explained that I still have a week of vacation time. That led to a discussion of hours of work (that "wall" we hit at about 10 hours into the shift and how it's about the worst time of the whole shift to be foggy) and how with the way my rotation is designed, every six weeks I have a stretch of 5 days off. He asked if we were busy. That led to a discussion of H1N1 and the statistics that have come from South America, Australia and Europe. To make a long story short, when the conversation was done, he said, "I had no idea how much you nurses need to know and how complex your jobs are. When I was in the ER with this clot, I saw just how hard you all work. We need more of you." Now if he could just tell two friends, and they could tell two friends...

bscn_rn_10_years · Sep 28, 2009

Yeah wouldn't that be nice if they actually knew what is involved in looking after someone who is sick.We are not a group of dumb bunnies...it is a lot of information to treat all those and know all the diseases......and all about the new ones popping up. It truely is lifelong education. I hope he does tell friends. :)

linzz · Sep 29, 2009

I also wish that the public had a clue about the level of responsibility that nurses have and how much decision making nurses really do. There seems to be this perception that the Doctors are always around telling nurses which bed pans to empty. Drives me crazy.