Our emergency department was going to open two LPN positions for an 1800-0200 shift. Then there was a big management shuffle. Our new director has changed those two positions to care aide positions. Their arguement was LPN's don't have the knowledge to deal with the acuity in emerg. Give me a break! And care aides do???????Here in BC care aides do the absolute basics. They do not even take vital signs. It is a 3 month course geared for their work in extended care facilities. In the job description someone got a hold of, it lists vitals, setting up buck's tractions, cast splitting, etc. They would have to train the care aides to do these skills. Why not hire an LPN who already knows them?? I am livid. Surrounding hospitals use LPN's to their full capacity in their emergency departments. It doesn't make sense to me not to have an LPN in emergency to help out,doing admissions, assessments,vitals, catherizations, etc, enabling more crucial time available for the RN to deal with the serious acutely ill. They changed the job description to read nursing assistant position. Nursing assistants don't even exist in BC. There has been an ongoing battle in my hospital between RN's and LPN's. We LPN's want to work within our full scope of practice, that includes pharmacology. We are trained to do assessments and do have critical thinking. They refuse to recognize us as part of the health care team, and continue to regard and treat us as the enemy. It does not make any sense to me at all. Am I missing something????
