Registered Nurses Support Immediate Action on Health Action Plan

EDMONTON, Nov. 30 /CNW/ - The College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA) supports the strategies outlined in Becoming the Best: Alberta's 5-year Health Action Plan providing there is immediate action to implement them. 

"The short-term timelines are aggressive and there will need to be immediate action to meet them," says Joan Petruk, CARNA president.  "The plan will only succeed if health professionals are engaged at all levels from governance planning to managing and delivering services. The plan makes actual  commitments in contrast to the past year where we have seen an exodus of nurses from the system.   Now that we have the commitment in terms of health care funding and this action plan, the government and Alberta Health Services need to start sending positive messages about nursing to encourage recent grads to return to Alberta and prospective nurses to feel confident that they can have a career in the province."

According to Petruk, "Many of the actions in the plan require registered nurses.  A hospital bed cannot be opened without the nursing staff to provide care for the patients who will be admitted to it.  The plan calls for opening 360 hospital beds by March 2012.  Similarly, RNs are needed in delivery of home care and it will require a significant investment in nurses and other staff at the community level to provide services for an additional 3,000 Albertans by March 2012 as called for in the plan.  The commitment to hire 70 per cent of nurse graduates is a good first step towards meeting nursing workforce needs but it must be combined with an aggressive strategy to retain experienced nurses."

"CARNA is pleased that the plan mentions the role of registered nurses and nurse practitioners (NPs) in primary care delivery with its focus on health promotion and chronic disease management," says CARNA chief executive officer Mary-Anne Robinson.  "We are particularly pleased with the implied commitment to remove barriers to NP practice which has been a long time coming.  CARNA is very interested in working with Alberta Health and Wellness, Alberta Health Services, and other professions to help ensure that the primary care delivery models fully utilize the knowledge and skills of registered nurses and other providers."

Robinson continues, "Over the past year, as many as 10 nurse practitioners either didn't renew their NP licenses or left the province because they couldn't find work as NPs in Alberta.  An NP is a registered nurse with additional education who is authorized to independently diagnose, prescribe and treat patients and these practitioners could have made a difference for people seeking care at their local primary care network or community clinic.    Clearly, this plan calls for immediate action on recruiting and retaining this 'made in Alberta' resource."

CARNA is the professional and regulatory body for Alberta's more than 33,000 RNs, including nurses in direct care, education, research and administration as well as nurse practitioners. Its mandate is to protect the public by ensuring that Albertans receive effective, safe and ethical care by registered nurses.

For further information:

Margaret Ward-Jack
tel: [phone]
cell:  780-932-1376
[email protected]