Letter to the Editor
Submitted to Calgary Herald on Dec. 20, 2011
Published on Dec. 29, 2011
Re: Redford making good on clinic pledge
The Premier’s announcement that government will start creating family care clinics early in 2012 is exciting. Interdisciplinary teams working in family care clinics will provide timely access to services when people need them and improve management of chronic illnesses in the community. The benefits of inter-professional care and the development of a team-based approach to care are well-known and documented. Preventing illness and promoting health is the best way to reduce demand on our over-stretched health care system over the long –term . It was heartening to learn that 44 communities recognize the value that nurse practitioners, pharmacists, mental health workers, registered nurses, physiotherapists and other professionals bring to primary health care. Patients will now be able to access badly needed health services without always going through a physician first. While the loss of family physicians in Slave Lake is unfortunate, the situation provides an opportunity to re-establish primary health care services using the new family care clinic approach. Hopefully, the opening of the three family care clinics mentioned in the article will be the first of many such openings throughout the province.
Dianne Dyer, President
College & Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta
It doesn’t sound like the doctors are too enthusiastic about this from what I’ve heard, since this sounds an awful lot like the primary care networks. Furthermore, Ms. Redford in the news yesterday made the comment that they were opening 140.
Where is she getting the staff? Although she did say: “LPN’s working to their full scope of practice and others, such as doctors, but LPN’s working to their full scope of practice can to what doctors do”. She left out the largest group of professional healthcare workers: Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners. Maybe I’m missing something, but do “LPN’s working to their full scope of practice do what doctors do”?
I have developed a facebook page dedicated to real issues that real nurses face – we must start talking about what we do and what the challenges are in real terms.
However, nurses have the idea (from CARNA) that speaking up will get you into trouble. I have yet to have one nurse brave enough to speak up on that FB page although I know what nursing colleagues are thinking and saying to me on the side. Maybe if CARNA wants to affect change they need to support real nurses with real dilemmas. Personally, I think too many of us think or believe CARNA is too closely aligned with the political side of things and are too ready to support political ideas/management that create ethical problems for nurses. There are just too many ethical dilemmas on the horizon and I don’t think CARNA is nearly prepared for them.
I recommend two books “Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Sterotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care” by Suzanne Gordon and “From Silence to Voice: What Nurss know and must Communicate to the Public”, by Bernice Buresh and Suzanne Gordon.
I spoke up in public and it caused nothing but problems. I had gone the channels…all the way to the top of AHS (yes chairman of the board). After nearly 4 years, I still don’t know the outcome. So…you see…nurses aren’t going to speak out – they are stressed out enough and don’t see the support they need to do so.
Thank you Jeweller5 for your response.
You are not out in ‘left field’. Your words have demonstrated the passion and conviction that I am hoping to bring forward from registered nurses in my term as President and that we hope to see at the Provincial Council table. Over my 36 years of nursing I have worked in community and acute care as a staff nurse, educator, manager and researcher. I have seen the best in our system and for sure the very worst. Like other ‘real nurses’ I have experienced the ethical dilemmas, the moral distress and even workplace intimidation. Yes, registered nurses are highly educated professionals and the phrase ‘just a nurse’ should NEVER be used. At every opportunity with the press and in meetings I have spoken passionately about the incredible role and contributions of registered nurses, nurse practitioners and the needs of the public; letting everyone know what we do every day and how we can make a difference in the lives of Albertans. I have not spoken about physician intimidation. My role is to speak for registered nurses. I need to hear your stories; please share your experiences with me.
You can call or e-mail me anytime at president@nurses.ab.ca or call (780) 909-7058 or call the CARNA office at 1-800 252-9392 and ask for the President and I will call you back.