Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) are not being given the chance to do the work they were trained for.

That was the message a delegation speaking for local LPNs told members of the South Central Health District Board at their monthly meeting, Thursday.

The concerns were brought to the board just one day before the Saskatchewan Association of LPNs (SALPN) took legal action against the province's two groups representing registered nurses.

On Friday SALPN made it public they were suing the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses and Saskatchewan Registered Nurses' Association for policies they say discriminate against LPNs.

"What is frustrating for many LPNs is the fact that in the past they used to perform many of the tasks that they are not now permitted to do. Such decisions are being made by RN managers who are in a conflict of interest position of determining the nursing staff mix to the advantage of RNs and the disadvantage of LPNs," said Pat Hood, president of the local chapter of SALPN.

Hood read from a brief prepared by the Canadian Union of Public Employees - the union that represents LPNs - outlining their concerns.

The brief states LPNs are trained to handle patient assessment, infection control, patient education, palliative care, pre and post natal care and other skills through an 11-month course offered at SIAST.

According to the brief, over 48 per cent of LPNs in the province have also taken a course on administering medications, which will be mandatory by 2001.

Hood told the board LPNs are often limited to jobs performed by nurses aides or special care aides and as a result are losing their skills.

"There are many areas of (care) where LPNs and RNs overlap and it would be extremely practical and cost effective to utilize LPNs in these areas.

"In our hospital, that's in the area of maternity and administration of medication for pain relief. Sometimes patients wait a half hour to an hour for a simple Tylenol to relieve their pain," said Hood, adding that the use of LPNs could alleviate nursing shortage problems.

What the LPNs want, said Debbie Hubrick, local CUPE president, is to increase the number of LPNs in the province, improve the utilization of LPN skills and to involve LPNs in staff-mix decisions.

"We believe it is inappropriate to allow one professional group the exclusive right to determine appropriate staff mix and level," she said.

They also want research on LPN utilization to take place and a wage review to be done.

Nancy Styles, a Weyburn RN and past president of the local chapter of SUN, says bringing lesser skilled staff in to do the job of nurses caused morbidity and mortality rates to rise when it was tried in the U.S., and would likely do the same here.

"I went to school to be an RN, not a doctor. If you're a doctor you have a lot more responsibility and education. It's a similar situation (with LPNs). I guess what I'm saying is they need a lot more education to do what they want to do.

"Maybe to some people that sounds like turf protection but it really isn't," she said.

Marga Cugnett, vice-president of Patient Services for the South Central Health District, told board members LPN positions have increased slightly in the district.

"The only thing we haven't approved is (using LPNs) in administering medications or acute care. We have considered LPNs in long-term care, but I would suggest that there is also an LPN shortage in this district," she said.