Registered nurses to rally on Thursday for safe patient care

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR NURSES’ UNION
Media Advisory
For Immediate Release:                                                                                                           
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
 

Registered nurses to rally on Thursday for safe patient care

St. John’s, NL – Registered nurses will rally in front of Confederation Building on Thursday to bring an urgent message about safe patient care and safe staffing levels, in light of  proposed reductions to registered nurse positions in several Central Health facilities.  

“Tomorrow’s rally is about sending a message to employers and government that safe staffing equals safe patient care,” said NLNU President Debbie Forward. “Registered nurses want to provide the best possible care for their patients, but to do this we need to ensure safe staffing levels.”

A new study released by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions shows that excessive nursing workload is negatively affecting patient outcomes. The report, Nursing Workload and Patient Care: Understanding the value of nurses, the effectives of excessive workload and how nurse-patient ratios and dynamic staffing models can help, was presented to provincial health ministers in September.
“We have the research,” said Forward. “We know that safe staffing improves patient safety and quality of care. Yet, we continue to hear about registered nurses positions being replaced or eliminated from the system. It’s happening right across the board in Central Health.”

Inadequate registered nurse staffing has been proven to be associated with increases in mortality rates, hospital-acquired pneumonia, urinary tract infections, sepsis, hospital-acquired infections, pressure ulcers, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, shock and cardiac arrest, medication errors, falls, failure to rescue and longer than expected length of hospital stay.

Following the rally at Confederation Building, registered nurses will walk the picket line at the St. John’s International Airport in a show of solidarity for striking Union of Canadian Transportation Employees (UCTE) local 90961 workers.

Event Details:

Date: Thursday, November 8 (tomorrow)
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. (Registered nurses to visit UCTE picket line at airport following rally)
Location: Confederation Building  

NLNU President Debbie Forward will be in attendance.

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For More Information Contact:  

Karyn Murphy
NLNU Communications Specialist
T: 709-753-9961
C: 709-691-0889
kmurphy@nlnu.ca