Ontario Nurses' Association Supports SAH Increase in RN Staffing
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON, May 9, 2013 /CNW/ - Emergency room registered nurses at Sault Area Hospital support management's decision to increase RN staffing at the Sault Area Hospital's emergency department.
The two extra positions - a full-time Nurse Educator and an additional 12-hour RN shift per day - were agreed to yesterday when Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, met with Sault Area Hospital CEO Ron Gagnon.
"Mr. Gagnon and members of his senior management team participated in an open and frank discussion with ONA yesterday, and the people of the Sault are the beneficiaries," says Haslam-Stroud. "We all recognize that we have a mutual interest in patients receiving high-quality, safe patient care and with the new positions, our dedicated RNs will be better able to meet the care targets set by the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale and their own College of Nurses of Ontario standards."
RNs in the department had been frustrated at the inability to care for ER patients to the standard required of them by their regulator because of the shortage of staff. An Independent Assessment Committee had investigated and made a number of recommendations to improve care, including the addition of one 12-hour RN shift per day and the Nurse Educator dedicated to the ER. ONA and the hospital will now work together to make the best use for patients of the new RN positions.
"We recognize that hospitals are trying to operate under serious fiscal restraints," says Haslam-Stroud. "Both management and nurses want the best, safest care for patients and we believe that through working together, we have found a way forward to ensure that the people of the Sault have access to quality patient care in the emergency department."
ONA is the union representing 60,000 front-line RNs, RPNs and allied health professionals and more than 14,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in Ontario hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, industry and clinics.
SOURCE: Ontario Nurses' Association
Ontario Nurses' Association
Melanie Levenson (416) 964-8833, ext. 2369; [email protected]
Ruth Featherstone (416) 964-8833, ext. 2267; [email protected]
Visit us at: www.ona.org; www.Facebook.com/OntarioNurses; www.Twitter.com/OntarioNurses
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