Union questions decision to cut senior nurses who work with severe burn and trauma cases

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/07/2017 (3004 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pair of senior nurses whose positions are being eliminated at Health Sciences Centre as part of a government-ordered belt-tightening effort are “devastated” by the decision, the president of the Manitoba Nurses Union says.

Sandi Mowat said both women had considerable experience in their chosen specialties.

As first reported Monday by the Free Press, one off the nurses dealt with severe burn cases. The other eliminated position, which came to light later in the day, worked with severe trauma cases.

Both women, who held the title of clinical nurse specialist, had been in their roles for a decade or more. The trauma specialist had been recently recognized by the Canadian Nurses Association for her outstanding work.

“They’re both extremely disappointed,” Mowat said, questioning how much money the Manitoba government would save with these moves.

She argued because of the nurses’ expertise, patients had better post-operative outcomes and spent less time in hospital.

While neither nurse had daily, front-line contact with patients, they provided invaluable advice on complex burn and trauma cases. They also educated staff, developed standards of care and liaised with regional health authorities across the province, Mowat said. Both are registered nurses who also hold master’s degrees.

While the positions will disappear, the individuals (who did not wish to be interviewed) will be offered other employment within the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. 

Lori Lamont, vice-president of interprofessional practice and chief nursing officer with the WRHA, said it was felt the work done by the clinical nurse specialists could be performed by others. She said their duties overlapped to some degree with those of other professionals at the hospital.

“This decision is not reflective of the quality of the individuals or the value that they provided to our health system,” Lamont emphasized. But she said in looking for ways to make the health system more financially sustainable, administrators “needed to look for opportunities where we could make change.”

Lamont added there is less of a need to develop standards of practice locally — part of the two nurses’ responsibilities — as increasingly these guidelines are set at a national level.

Meanwhile, Lamont said the health region still doesn’t know exactly how many nurses will be affected by the first stage of the provincially mandated Winnipeg hospital reorganization plan.

In early October, Misericordia Health Centre’s urgent care centre will close and Victoria General Hospital’s emergency room will be transformed into an urgent care centre, taking on less-serious medical conditions than it used to.

Lamont said it will be “sometime yet” before it’s known how many nurses will be impacted — and in what way. 

“We’ll have a better idea in a month from now, but it will probably be closer to sometime in September before we have a final idea,” she said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca