“Proper planning prevents poor outcomes”
-Author Unknown
Here in Alberta the new Super health board announced a plan to increase the number of LPN’s vs RN’s in the system by significant amounts over the next 2 years. The thinking appears to be that once again nurses are too expensive so they should be replaced with a lower cost alternative.
The powers that be in nursing are of course up in arms about this and have been urging members of the profession to register their concerns with said super board to prevent this from happening. Now personally I’ve seen this issue before in fact several times during my career and it’s always failed miserably but even I have to admit that this time it may just actually work out for them.
Why would replacing RN’s with LPN’s work now when it hasn’t before? Well there are of course a number of contributing factors to this but chief among them this time is the nursing profession itself.
9 years ago in what I have on several occasion described as one of the most myopic decisions in the history of the world the nursing profession officially did away with the diploma programs that for so long produced the bulk of the practicing nurses in the system. Allegedly this was done to make the nursing profession more professional under the belief that mandatory degree standards would produce better nurses. I’ll reserve comment on if that actually happened or not, but the one thing I do know is that the mandatory degree policy completely changed who could become a nurse and not necessarily for the better.
Ultimately this new standard has to my mind only produced fewer clinical nurses so in the end while we as a profession may complain that the LPN’s can’t do the job of an RN; the sober reality is that as a profession we can’t produce the number of nurses the system needs to ensure the very standard the powers that be now demand we little old diploma nurses to defend.
We my friends are the engineers of our own demise!
Nursing as we know it has become an endangered species because if we can’t provide the service our own profession states should be the minimum standard someone else will.
Enter the LPN’s.
Hopefully they’ll be smarter then we as a profession have been and plan for the future and not be as arrogant as to put themselves out of business.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
National Nurses Week
“The true Hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive their deception, the one who lies with sincerity”
-Andre Gide
It’s that time again, National Nurses Week. I’ve always wondered what it was really all about, so this year I had a look at the Canadian Nursing Associations web site and it informed me that it is in fact:
“An opportunity to promote and show appreciation for the vital role nursing plays in the health system and in the life of every Canadian.”
Sounds like a great idea right? But let me let you in on a dirty little secret.
In my experience the extent of the celebration usually takes the form of a tacky banner posted at the main entrance to the hospital followed by a generic mass printed open letter (or email if your hospital has gone green) followed by a tea party that no one attends because the unit is too busy for them to leave followed by a gift of a pen that lasts less time then National Nursing Week.
I don’t know about you but with apprectiation like that I'm just dying to race right back to work of next shift filled of S&A (sh!t and abuse).
To my mind the sincerity towards the entire affair is not quite what it used to be not that it was ever really high to start with. Hardly a surprise when one considers that like most ideas of this type they seem great at first, but over time the value and priority once placed on them wanes especially in the face of year after year repetition.
I suspect that this is so much the case that I have visions of high leveled official types huddled worried in conference rooms with the sole item on the agenda being:
“What the hell do we do for these assholes this year”
A dilemma indeed!
Especially allows for the fact that nurses are for the most part the largest group of employees in most hospitals, and let’s face it; among one of the most important. Not to suggest that non nurses don’t have valuable roles in hospitals, they do! But face it, you need a lot of nurses to run a hospital well.
But anyway if the rumor I have been told is true this years token of appreciation may take the cake quite literally for lack of effort. I say this because according to a colleague of mine her gift was:
A cup cake!
Yup you heard me!
A cup cake!
My initial reaction to that which reflects my often over looked gracious and appreciative nature was to say “You have to be fu@king kidding!”
Note: Yes, that was gracious for me. Even I won’t write the not so gracious comments.
Anyway apparently she wasn’t!
She got a Cupcake!
My next thought was Wow, thanks for the lack of effort powers that be! That gesture really makes me feel appreciated!
I guess now my only salvation is the hope that perhaps this was something limited to her unit, which if it is the case isn't so bad. After all perhaps the nurses on her unit like cupcakes and if that is so it is kind of nice gesture. But the same assumption on an entire hospital scale?
I swear if I go to work on the weekend and find a stale cupcake sitting in my unit mail box I’m going to lose it! If in fact if that is indeed the case personally I would have preferred they did nothing! It would have been more sincere then the cupcake.
I will say this though, all this has got me thinking. Perhaps it might be an idea to revisit the entire National Nursing Week celebration. Perhaps a reboot along the lines of what we saw with the last two Batman movies or the new Star Trek movie (I’m seeing it tomorrow) is order to make it an exciting event again.
And it is in that vein that I make the following suggestion!
Let’s relabel it!
Call it: “Nation Nurses take the week off”
I’ll let you fill in the blanks as to what it entails.
-Andre Gide
It’s that time again, National Nurses Week. I’ve always wondered what it was really all about, so this year I had a look at the Canadian Nursing Associations web site and it informed me that it is in fact:
“An opportunity to promote and show appreciation for the vital role nursing plays in the health system and in the life of every Canadian.”
Sounds like a great idea right? But let me let you in on a dirty little secret.
In my experience the extent of the celebration usually takes the form of a tacky banner posted at the main entrance to the hospital followed by a generic mass printed open letter (or email if your hospital has gone green) followed by a tea party that no one attends because the unit is too busy for them to leave followed by a gift of a pen that lasts less time then National Nursing Week.
I don’t know about you but with apprectiation like that I'm just dying to race right back to work of next shift filled of S&A (sh!t and abuse).
To my mind the sincerity towards the entire affair is not quite what it used to be not that it was ever really high to start with. Hardly a surprise when one considers that like most ideas of this type they seem great at first, but over time the value and priority once placed on them wanes especially in the face of year after year repetition.
I suspect that this is so much the case that I have visions of high leveled official types huddled worried in conference rooms with the sole item on the agenda being:
“What the hell do we do for these assholes this year”
A dilemma indeed!
Especially allows for the fact that nurses are for the most part the largest group of employees in most hospitals, and let’s face it; among one of the most important. Not to suggest that non nurses don’t have valuable roles in hospitals, they do! But face it, you need a lot of nurses to run a hospital well.
But anyway if the rumor I have been told is true this years token of appreciation may take the cake quite literally for lack of effort. I say this because according to a colleague of mine her gift was:
A cup cake!
Yup you heard me!
A cup cake!
My initial reaction to that which reflects my often over looked gracious and appreciative nature was to say “You have to be fu@king kidding!”
Note: Yes, that was gracious for me. Even I won’t write the not so gracious comments.
Anyway apparently she wasn’t!
She got a Cupcake!
My next thought was Wow, thanks for the lack of effort powers that be! That gesture really makes me feel appreciated!
I guess now my only salvation is the hope that perhaps this was something limited to her unit, which if it is the case isn't so bad. After all perhaps the nurses on her unit like cupcakes and if that is so it is kind of nice gesture. But the same assumption on an entire hospital scale?
I swear if I go to work on the weekend and find a stale cupcake sitting in my unit mail box I’m going to lose it! If in fact if that is indeed the case personally I would have preferred they did nothing! It would have been more sincere then the cupcake.
I will say this though, all this has got me thinking. Perhaps it might be an idea to revisit the entire National Nursing Week celebration. Perhaps a reboot along the lines of what we saw with the last two Batman movies or the new Star Trek movie (I’m seeing it tomorrow) is order to make it an exciting event again.
And it is in that vein that I make the following suggestion!
Let’s relabel it!
Call it: “Nation Nurses take the week off”
I’ll let you fill in the blanks as to what it entails.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Tales from the front swine’s, I mean lines!
“Dread of disaster makes everybody act in the very way that increases the disaster. Psychologically the situation is analogous to that of people trampled to death when there is a panic in a theatre caused by a cry of fire”
-Bertrand Russell
Well a little more than a week into the H1N1 plague (the virus formally known as swine flu) and surprise the sky has yet to fall unlike pork futures.
I have to admit that as a front line health care worker I’m growing worried!
Worried not because the province I live in has had a 13 fold increase in the number of reported cases, but because I’m afraid I’m going to laugh in someone’s face as they pass by me wearing one those stupid ass paper procedure masks the caring corporate giant they work for has gave them to “protect” themselves. Of course these same concerned companies aren’t so concerned that they felt it important enough to mention that those masks they have so lovingly given out to their valued task monkey’s have actually limited protective value and in fact one could even make a case to say that the protection they provide is more psychological than that of infection control.
But hey; value is value! We can always rest more comfortable knowing that companies who manufacture or sell things like surgical masks and hand cleaners are making a shit load of money right now. Let’s hear it for the supply and demand curve! Go free market go! It is a recession after all so we have to take our positive economic news where we can get it.
I should also point out that by way of real numbers the 13 fold increase I mentioned here in Alberta means that the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 (the virus formally known as swine flu) has gone from 2 to 26 since I wrote about things last week. Not exactly the causality figures one would have expected for a “stage 5” pandemic situation, but I’m not one of the experts from Chicken Little (The World Health Organization) so what do I know.
Of course here in Alberta we also have the added distinction of being really proactive compared to the rest of the world in that it appears someone has decided that if we’re going down to the flu then we’re taking those dam pigs with us! So unlike some countries who decided to simply slaughter anything with a curly tail that goes oink out here in our typical lead the way attitude we have somehow managed reverse infect some of our pig herds (one actually). One wonders if we will be even more innovative and start quarantining our H1N1 (the virus formally known as swine flu) infected people with our H1N1 (the virus formally known as swine flu) pigs. After all it would be efficient and cost effective.
The news cycle of course is still covering things although admittedly it is beginning to be somewhat less front page and even members of the press are beginning to become somewhat cynical and actually questioning the validity of this crisis. Already references to the 1976 Swine Flu Fiasco are almost popular of references to H1N1 (the virus formally known as swine flu).
On a bright note folks on the Internet with senses of humor far superior to mine have once more managed to make outstanding jokes about this situation by providing several alternative names to H1N1 (the virus formerly known as swine flu)after Chicken Little's(The World Health Organization)request for the press to stop using "swine flue" (The virus now know as H1N1). My favorite of course is Hamthrax followed by porkinson's and baby back disease.
Lastly just to continue last week’s theme of vaccinating yourself against bullshit consider this:
If you are sneezing have a sore throat or generally don’t feel well when you get off a plane. Guess what? It’s just as likely that you’re either jet lagged or have spent far too much time on said plane breathing recycled farts than of you actually having H1N1 (the virus formally known as swine flu)at least as long as current infection rates hold true.
So remember, don’t panic!
If you’re really sick with a fever and such by all means see a doctor.
Hopefully by next week however this plague will be literally yesterday’s news.
-Bertrand Russell
Well a little more than a week into the H1N1 plague (the virus formally known as swine flu) and surprise the sky has yet to fall unlike pork futures.
I have to admit that as a front line health care worker I’m growing worried!
Worried not because the province I live in has had a 13 fold increase in the number of reported cases, but because I’m afraid I’m going to laugh in someone’s face as they pass by me wearing one those stupid ass paper procedure masks the caring corporate giant they work for has gave them to “protect” themselves. Of course these same concerned companies aren’t so concerned that they felt it important enough to mention that those masks they have so lovingly given out to their valued task monkey’s have actually limited protective value and in fact one could even make a case to say that the protection they provide is more psychological than that of infection control.
But hey; value is value! We can always rest more comfortable knowing that companies who manufacture or sell things like surgical masks and hand cleaners are making a shit load of money right now. Let’s hear it for the supply and demand curve! Go free market go! It is a recession after all so we have to take our positive economic news where we can get it.
I should also point out that by way of real numbers the 13 fold increase I mentioned here in Alberta means that the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 (the virus formally known as swine flu) has gone from 2 to 26 since I wrote about things last week. Not exactly the causality figures one would have expected for a “stage 5” pandemic situation, but I’m not one of the experts from Chicken Little (The World Health Organization) so what do I know.
Of course here in Alberta we also have the added distinction of being really proactive compared to the rest of the world in that it appears someone has decided that if we’re going down to the flu then we’re taking those dam pigs with us! So unlike some countries who decided to simply slaughter anything with a curly tail that goes oink out here in our typical lead the way attitude we have somehow managed reverse infect some of our pig herds (one actually). One wonders if we will be even more innovative and start quarantining our H1N1 (the virus formally known as swine flu) infected people with our H1N1 (the virus formally known as swine flu) pigs. After all it would be efficient and cost effective.
The news cycle of course is still covering things although admittedly it is beginning to be somewhat less front page and even members of the press are beginning to become somewhat cynical and actually questioning the validity of this crisis. Already references to the 1976 Swine Flu Fiasco are almost popular of references to H1N1 (the virus formally known as swine flu).
On a bright note folks on the Internet with senses of humor far superior to mine have once more managed to make outstanding jokes about this situation by providing several alternative names to H1N1 (the virus formerly known as swine flu)after Chicken Little's(The World Health Organization)request for the press to stop using "swine flue" (The virus now know as H1N1). My favorite of course is Hamthrax followed by porkinson's and baby back disease.
Lastly just to continue last week’s theme of vaccinating yourself against bullshit consider this:
If you are sneezing have a sore throat or generally don’t feel well when you get off a plane. Guess what? It’s just as likely that you’re either jet lagged or have spent far too much time on said plane breathing recycled farts than of you actually having H1N1 (the virus formally known as swine flu)at least as long as current infection rates hold true.
So remember, don’t panic!
If you’re really sick with a fever and such by all means see a doctor.
Hopefully by next week however this plague will be literally yesterday’s news.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Consider the swine....flu that is!
“Don’t Panic!”
-The Hitcher Hikers Guide to the Universe
Do me a favour everyone unclench your collective sphincters in regards to swine flu.
Yes there is an illness out there!
But at least for now that’s pretty well all anyone knows for sure!
Everything else is speculation!
Don’t mistake the 24 hour saturation coverage we’re being inundated as being anything resembling reality!
No matter how you stack it only time will tell the true extent of the problem assuming there is one. Use that time to educate yourself and understand what is happening.
Remember ignorance is the cause of fear and significant amounts of information that is being provided for you right now by the 5th mistake (the press) is part fact and also part fiction. Be discriminating when reviewing the information your being provided with. don't stay ignorant and correspondingly fearful.
Vaccinate yourself against bullshit!
That dear readers to my mind is one of the best first defenses against almost everything that ails you.
Let me get you started. I'm sure you know all those surgical masks I'll bet the masses are suddenly anxious to buy? Well in regards to them find out the following:
1) What is the difference between a mask and a n95 mask.
2) How long is one effective for once put on?
3) What will a mask actually protect you against?
-The Hitcher Hikers Guide to the Universe
Do me a favour everyone unclench your collective sphincters in regards to swine flu.
Yes there is an illness out there!
But at least for now that’s pretty well all anyone knows for sure!
Everything else is speculation!
Don’t mistake the 24 hour saturation coverage we’re being inundated as being anything resembling reality!
No matter how you stack it only time will tell the true extent of the problem assuming there is one. Use that time to educate yourself and understand what is happening.
Remember ignorance is the cause of fear and significant amounts of information that is being provided for you right now by the 5th mistake (the press) is part fact and also part fiction. Be discriminating when reviewing the information your being provided with. don't stay ignorant and correspondingly fearful.
Vaccinate yourself against bullshit!
That dear readers to my mind is one of the best first defenses against almost everything that ails you.
Let me get you started. I'm sure you know all those surgical masks I'll bet the masses are suddenly anxious to buy? Well in regards to them find out the following:
1) What is the difference between a mask and a n95 mask.
2) How long is one effective for once put on?
3) What will a mask actually protect you against?
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