By KIRSTEN LEATHERDALE of the Weyburn Review
It's 9 p.m., and nurse Stella Swertz just got home from a 12-hour shift at the Weyburn General Hospital that turned into a 14-hour day. Tired out, Swertz heads for a soak in the bathtub. "I tell you, after a 14-hour day, you need time in the tub," she says. "That's the world of nursing."
The world of nursing isn't an attractive place to be right now, according to hundreds of overworked, stressed-out nurses in the province. Although the South Central Health District isn't in the same dire straights as the Regina Health District, recently forced to close beds because of a nursing shortage, nurses aren't clamouring to work here, either.
Swertz was head nurse that day on an understaffed floor that includes maternity and nursery, medicine, pre and post surgery, palliative care, and pediatrics patients. It meant the nurses ran all day long and had very little time for a break.
"Today we needed extra hands and we didn't have them, and we floundered all day long," said Swertz, who works part-time at the Weyburn General Hospital and casual hours at the Souris Valley Extendicare Centre.
"Lots of days for me are frustrating before you even begin, because you look at the workload, and look at staffing, and you know it's not a good mix," she said.
However, her request for extra help the next day was quickly granted. "In this district, in that regard, we're very lucky," she said. "But the district can only do so much with the dollars they get."
Marga Cugnet, Vice-President of Patient Services for the district, admits there aren't enough nurses lined up to work casual hours, and that replacing nursing positions in rural areas could prove to be difficult.
"There's been no major problems up to date, but it's getting down to the crunch," she said.
Cugnet thinks throwing more money at the problem won't solve it - recruitment and retention of nurses will.
She pointed to a number of initiatives in the South Central district aimed at attracting nurses to the area. Offering support for nurses who need to take refresher courses, a buddy system for nurses who need practical experience to get their license again, and re-training for nurses to work in specialty areas, are some of them.
Cugnet is also recruiting nurses from other provinces, and even out of the country. She convinced one Saskatchewan nurse who moved to Texas to come back and work in Weyburn.
The district has supported a seminar promoting Saskatchewan to nurses, and consistently attends recruitment fairs to attract nurses to Weyburn and area.
Regardless of the state of health care, nursing will always be a job with shift and weekend work, Cugnett added.
Nancy Styles, nurse and president of the district's Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) chapter, thinks the nursing shortage has deeper origins - that it didn't occur overnight, and won't improve until nurses get a better contract with the provincial government.
"If you can have a collective agreement that makes working conditions agreeable and attracts new young people into nursing, then you have a good agreement," said Styles.
But she said negotiations between SUN and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) are not going well.
"They're looking at roll backs - taking away things that took 25 years for us to get," said Styles.
One of the contentious issues concerns call pay - the province wants to reduce the pay given to nurses who go on call to rural areas, but are not reducing the pay doctors receive to go on call.
More generally, nurses want better working conditions, fewer hours, and pay equity with other government workers.
"I always thought it would be intriguing to make (health) a crown corporation - there always seem to be workers lined up for those jobs," Stella Swertz said, expressing a common complaint that other provincial government employees work under much better conditions and make more money than nurses.
"When I put things into a big picture, it doesn't seem to come out in an equitable fashion," she said.
Nancy Styles doesn't see a lot of incentive for young people to go into nursing. Saskatchewan's diploma nursing program ends in the year 2000, after which all nurses will be required to have their degree. It means more time and money spent on training, and Styles thinks if university students can get degrees in more lucrative fields with less hours of work, that's what they'll do.
"I've watched nurses getting older with few young ones coming in," she said.
Recent statistics from the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association (SRNA) show only 3.9 per cent of nurses are under the age of 25, while 18 per cent are aged 35-39, 21 per cent are aged 40-44, and 15 per cent are aged 45-49.
And because of poor working conditions, and patients that are much sicker and need more care than they used to, many nurses are retiring early, or being forced out of work due to injury.
In ten years, the number of nurses on long-term disability has effectively tripled. A comparison of accidents in nursing versus construction, published in the December issue of SUN's official newsletter, shows nurses are injured more often than construction workers when it comes to assaults and violent acts, transportation accidents, exposure to harmful substance/environment, and especially bodily reaction/exertion.
Despite the long hours and hectic pace, Swertz still loves nursing as a profession, and doesn't want to discourage young people thinking of nursing as their career choice. She says it's never boring, and just hearing a thankful word from a patient whose life she affected makes a hard day worth it.
"I don't want people to think a nursing career is lousy - it's just a lousy environment right now," she said.
Styles agrees that although nursing conditions are poor, it's still a very rewarding career.
"There are some nurses in this city that I have the deepest and greatest respect for - who you can call at the drop of a hat and they will come in. They do it because they believe in what they're doing, they're good nurses, and they're dedicated to what they do. I believe they deserve recognition for the service they provide to the public," said Styles.
With a strike mandate of 74 per cent, voted on before negotiations even started, nurses are prepared to walk the picket lines if a collective agreement can't be reached between SUN and SAHO by March 31. It's the first time in SUN's history that nurses have voted for strike action in advance of negotiations.
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