Year: 2007
Location: Medicine Hat
Profile: Kristin Hennes was in her first year of RN practice, working in acute care within the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, when interviewed. Her unit is situated immediately across from the ICU, and many patients move between the two levels of care. She sees inadequate staffing as the biggest challenge for Alberta nurses, with a ripple effect on expectations and care. Her “full” orientation consisted of working alongside an experienced nurse for two weeks. At night, they cover multiple roles with one supervisor serving the entire hospital. Hennes is aware of increasing pressure on nurses in the larger centres to work extra shifts and anticipates the same conditions will come to Medicine Hat. She raises concerns about the sustainability of a public health system without restrictions on spending but is grateful to not have to make health decisions based on the US-styled business model. Union participation is new for Hennes but she understands the union’s role in protecting nurses’ contractual rights from management efforts to impose requirements that violate the contract. She would like to see specific strategies to address recruitment and working conditions and believes that addressing the nursing shortage in acute care should take precedence over community nursing.
Keywords: Acute care nursing; Medicine Hat Regional Hospital; Publicly-funded health care; Staffing levels in nursing; Union participation; Working conditions.
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See Also: United Nurses of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta