They want to focus on patient care: The Telegram - St. John’s, NL: Local News | Nurses add to list of non-nursing duties to focus more time on patient care
Nurses in the province are turning up the heat — if that’s not on a growing list of non-nursing duties they will no longer perform because of what they claim is the provincial government’s failure to deal with a critical nursing shortage.
On Oct. 1, the Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses’ Union (NLNU) advised nurses to stop performing a list of non-nursing duties. As of Thursday, a whole new bunch of duties will be added to the list.
“The health-care system in Newfoundland and Labrador is experiencing a serious nursing shortage, which is negatively affecting patient care,” said Debbie Forward, NLNU President. “Having nurses perform non-nursing tasks is an inefficient use of time for this skilled workforce. By removing these duties, nurses can now focus on providing quality nursing care to patients.”
The non-nursing duties added to the list are: Mandate Registered Nurses back to work; call back non-nursing staff (such as housekeeping, cooks, etc.); deliver or pick up meal trays; porter patients for routine procedures; register patients and retrieve charts after midnight; book routine appointments; and transport routine specimens to the lab.
Forward said all duties have been carefully chosen to reduce risk to nurses and patients.
The list announced on Oct. 1 includes: cleaning (carbolizing) beds, stretchers, floors, shelves, baths; emptying garbage, linen bins/baskets, sharps containers; moving furniture; cleaning equipment such as IV poles, monitors, etc.; restocking shelves; clerical Duties such as restocking charts, filing and arranging building maintenance.
Geez...back in the early days, this WAS all part of our jobs!
Nurses in the province are turning up the heat — if that’s not on a growing list of non-nursing duties they will no longer perform because of what they claim is the provincial government’s failure to deal with a critical nursing shortage.
On Oct. 1, the Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses’ Union (NLNU) advised nurses to stop performing a list of non-nursing duties. As of Thursday, a whole new bunch of duties will be added to the list.
“The health-care system in Newfoundland and Labrador is experiencing a serious nursing shortage, which is negatively affecting patient care,” said Debbie Forward, NLNU President. “Having nurses perform non-nursing tasks is an inefficient use of time for this skilled workforce. By removing these duties, nurses can now focus on providing quality nursing care to patients.”
The non-nursing duties added to the list are: Mandate Registered Nurses back to work; call back non-nursing staff (such as housekeeping, cooks, etc.); deliver or pick up meal trays; porter patients for routine procedures; register patients and retrieve charts after midnight; book routine appointments; and transport routine specimens to the lab.
Forward said all duties have been carefully chosen to reduce risk to nurses and patients.
The list announced on Oct. 1 includes: cleaning (carbolizing) beds, stretchers, floors, shelves, baths; emptying garbage, linen bins/baskets, sharps containers; moving furniture; cleaning equipment such as IV poles, monitors, etc.; restocking shelves; clerical Duties such as restocking charts, filing and arranging building maintenance.
Geez...back in the early days, this WAS all part of our jobs!