Hospital chaos, part 1
February 20, 2008 | 08:00 AM
Darlene Hull
My friend Marilyn is a nurse. She’s passionate about nursing and has a high degree of qualification. She was chatting with me the other day about what it’s like to nurse here in Calgary. Our conversation was a little disheartening.
First, some background:
Licensed practical nurses (LPNs), or registered nursing assistants (or RNAs) are people who generally feel a little uncomfortable about the responsibility of giving medicines etc, and just want to make sure the patients are comfortable and well cared for. They do the bathing, make the beds, the general “comfort care” because that’s what they love to do.
Registered nurses (or RNs) are people with a degree who are trained to give medications, act as a liaison between doctor and patient, and make sure that the higher level of care is in place. They are also trained to train the patient to care for themselves properly.
LPNs are less expensive, so there are more of them than RNs. However, there are so few of either of them that LPNs are now needing to involve themselves with higher level care like giving medicines.
RNs, struggling with a desperate understaffing problem, are now needing to involve themselves with more basic care as well as the higher level care. This means they are unavailable for patient training and doctor liaison. With everyone stressed because there’s no one available to do the job they’re really trained to do, there’s an increase in staff illness so there’s an even greater shortage of staff. Because of this, more of the patient’s care is now in the hands of family and friends who aren’t trained properly, who are cluttering up rooms, asking questions that no one has time to answer, and creating a need for more furniture so they have some place to sit.
And there’s more – come back Friday for the rest!
Comments: (2)
I am dismayed that the effort seems to be directed almost exclusively toward beefing up the emergency room capacities. Like Diane, I see much of the load on the emergency rooms as dealing health issues that could easily be, and perhaps are better, dealt with elsewhere.
When I see cases like this past weekend when capacity hits its maximum, the first question I have is what was the breakdown of real emergencies vs. cases that would be better suited to a non-ER environment. I want to see a more holistic solution presented that will provide a health infrastructure that is better suited toward our real world needs.
One example would be moving toward per-patient funding in a multiple-doctor/RN clinic environment rather than our traditional family doctor per case funding model.
Posted February 21, 2008 11:08 AM
Hello, while I agree that LPNs & RNAs are having to do more "higher care" jobs now, I want to question why RNs are not being used at walk-in clinics to assist the doctors thus alleviating the crush on the Emergency Room nurses?
Example: Last summer my husband was stung by a wasp & his leg swelled up so badly that he needed to have an IV, as over-the counter medicine & a prescription was not helping. After going to the walk-in-clinic to see the doctor, he was told to go to the hospital emergency room for the IV. At the ER we had to wait almost 9 hours for another doctor there who gave the OK to the RN to administer the IV. To me, this is "double doctoring" and if the first doctor knew what he needed why couldn't this procedure be done right there, or at least he could have been admitted straight to the IV clinic at the hospital for immediate treatment, instead of tying up triage nurses and another doctor at the ER? We took a place for someone with a life threatening emergency and took time with two separate doctors, who both diagnosed the same treatment. Seems like there is so much of this double-doing in health care that it's costing everyone way more time & money than it should. I still don't think the ER was the best place for my husband to be taken care of, it was not an emergency by any means.
Posted February 21, 2008 09:33 AM