BC nurses get national support for drive to stop hallway nursing
Delegates call for a cross-Canada strategy to fight ill-advised schemes by governments and physician groups to get patients out of overcrowded emergency rooms
BC nurses have received overwhelming support from their colleagues across Canada for a campaign to end the practice of nursing patients in hospital hallways and closets.
In a unanimous vote, 700 delegates to the biennial convention of the Canadian Federation of Nurses' Unions called on the national union to develop "a national strategy on hallway nursing and overcapacity protocols, with the end goal being the elimination of hallway nursing".
The resolution criticized provincial governments and physician groups for "relying on hallway nursing as a quick fix to the ER crisis".
Delegates from several provinces related incidents of nurses being forced to care for patients in hallways, television rooms and closets. The CFNU convention wrapped up Friday in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Melanie Leckovic, an emergency room nurse from Burnaby Hospital said all too often hospitals have implemented policies in which they move patients out of emergency rooms into areas that have no proper facilities for oxygen or suctioning and provide no call bells or privacy. On top of this there are often inadequate numbers of staff.
"It tears me apart to see what goes on in emerg, and how those problems are transferred to the wards. We've got to get governments to take action because they've got to be ashamed of themselves for what's going on."
BCNU president Debra McPherson said nurses should make hallway nursing a major issue in the next federal election campaign.
"Often these schemes pit one group of nurses against another when both are trying to provide the best patient care they can. The real issue is a systemic one - not enough acute care and long term care beds and other long term solutions." said McPherson.
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