The Blood Bath Begins!

“Overkill means pouring another pail of gasoline on a fire that’s already burning nicely”
-Author unknown


Well at long last the layoffs have begun at my hospital. It was inevitable of course with the forming of the new Alberta health monopoly; sorry super board something had to give.

At present the middle management of nursing administration has been the target and over the last couple of weeks with what I’m sure was little to no planning or thought they have been purging the ranks of nursing management with a Teutonic overkill that would do any hoard of invading barbarians proud.

Normally I would be rejoicing that some of the deadwood that seem to so often hold nursing management positions is being shown the door, but this time I’m not. Sadly in their zeal to make a new and improved management structure the powers that be have also managed to get rid of some highly effective management teams as well. Ultimately I think in the long run this re organization is going to prove to be highly detrimental to the system as a whole.

The most fascinating thing I’ve heard is that there appears to be a little extra screw you added in for those who have lost their present jobs. Seems some folks that are deemed valuable enough are being offered the chance to apply for other jobs within the super board. The catch is though that you’re not told what the pay will be for your new job (assuming you get it). So effectively you accept a position and could actually face a pay cut. Talk about making a decision in the dark. One has to wonder what circle of hell the human resources manager who dreamed that little scheme up came from.

Of course given that crap flows down it’s just a matter of time before the front line staff gets the shaft as well. Already the head of the super board has declared that there are too many acute care nurses here in Alberta.

I must say though he is an impressive individual. With barely 3 months on the job he’s single handedly solved a problem that has vexed everyone else for years. Then again it seems his idea of problem solving is closing his eyes and clicking his heals together three times and screaming “there is too many acute care nurses for all to hear”. Who knows, it might actually work! After all what one man says a thousand fools will repeat as true. Personally it makes me wonder how many reporters there are in Alberta and even if it isn’t a thousand you can bet they’ll begin parroting the cry soon enough.

Predictably people are a tad stressed and some of the flights of fancy I have heard regarding possible layoffs have been nothing short of impressive.

Take for instance one colleague who pointed out to me that if they did lose their job in the near future it could be the best thing that ever happened to them. They went on to say that if they were suddenly sans employment there was a very real possibility they would have to declare bankruptcy as they would run out of money quite quickly. They then went on to speculate that free of debt they could actually tear up their nursing license and really start over again as they would have nothing to lose anyway.

Creative thinking in the face of crisis to say the least!

I for one hope I don’t have to find out. I’ll keep you all posted either way.