A National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for health professionals has been established. The key purpose of the national registration scheme is to protect public safety. Only health practitioners who are suitably educated and able to demonstrate that they are qualified to practise their profession in a competent and ethical manner are registered.

Each profession has one National Board setting standards and policies for each of the 10 health professions supported by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). For nursing and midwifery the National Board is the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (the Board).

There are now 5 mandatory standards that must be met in order to register. Among these is the new recency of practice standard.

The requirement to demonstrate recency of practice in order to register is new to nurses and midwives in NSW. Prior to the introduction of this new system, nurses and midwives seeking to return to the register could apply to the Nurses and Midwives Board of NSW (NMB) and, at the discretion of the NMB, they were integrated into the workforce through a period of paid, supervised employment.

Under the new system, nurses and midwives will meet the recency of practice standard if they can demonstrate one of the following:

a. practice in their profession within the past five years for a period equivalent to a minimum of three months full time;

b. successful completion of a program or assessment approved by the Board, or

c. successful completion of a supervised practice experience approved by the Board.

This new recency of practice standard is being retrospectively applied. This means that many nurses and midwives who have taken extended breaks from their professions under the previous regulatory regime do not meet the new requirements.

The main option for nurses seeking to re‐enter practice in NSW is an 8 week course in Sydney at the cost of $10,000. The cost is prohibitive and few if any regional or rural nurses have access to this option.

For midwives there is no accredited course available in NSW.

The option of a supervised practice experience approved by the Board has been granted to only a small number of applicants.

The requirement that health professionals demonstrate some recency of practice in order to maintain competency and their registration is supported. However, the barriers that now confront a small cohort of nurses and midwives who have taken breaks from their professions under the previous arrangements and are now seeking to re‐enter are impractical and inefficient and serve merely to deny the health system experienced health professionals.

SIGNING THE PETITION

You can download the petition pdf at the NSWNA website here:

PETITION

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales.

The Petition of citizens of NSW brings to the attention of the House a significant threat to the provision of safe patient care in the NSW public health system and other facilities that provide nursing care arising from retrospective application of new barriers to the registration of nurses and midwives under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, specifically the new Recency of Practice Standard and the lack of affordable and accessible re-entry to practice courses for nurses and midwives who cannot meet the Standard.

For nurses who are now unable to register due to the new recency of practice standard, there is only one re-entry to practice course accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Australia. The cost of this 8 week course is exorbitant and prohibitive for most nurses. It is available through one provider in metropolitan Sydney, effectively excluding nurses in regional and rural areas of NSW.

For midwives who are unable to meet the new Recency of Practice Standard, there is no accredited re-entry to practice course available in NSW, the closest being offered in Adelaide.

The undersigned petitioners therefore ask the Legislative Assembly to immediately release funding to increase the number of nurses completing the College of Nursing course and to develop additional courses accredited by Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council for delivery by Local health Districts.

Image credit: NSWNA

Jacquie works as an educator at a NSW Hospital and chatted to us about mature workers, technology and stereotyping issues she has noticed in the public and private sector.

What is the general feeling toward older mature nurses/midwives in your workplace?

“The general feeling is usually neutral in most wards but some staff accept that the older midwife or nurse tends to move a little slower, however their knowledge base is usually very deep.

The area we tend to fall down on is IT skills, we tend to be a little slower in accessing results and unless taught these skills and allowed to practice we do not retain them as well as other old nursing/midwifery skills.

However in face to face communication and verbalisation with the patient, the older midwife and nurse far out exceed their younger counterparts. This is how they were trained. They can still do the physical work while engaging with the patient and extracting information and detail with the greatest of easy.

I am aware of instances where the older nurse or midwife has felt victimised by their ‘younger NUM’. On investigating the allegation and looking at facts, the problem seems to be that the older nurse is not confident with using computers and has difficulty accessing results off the system. Many IT programs are not user friendly.

Education in private sectors is extremely limited. The discriminatory behaviour is less overt, often a group of older mature workers are left manning the floor while the younger generation attend training and education programs offered by the companies that run the private sector.

However, some of this older generation do not see the need in attending training or education…there is a “that’s the way I was taught so that is the way I will do it” mindset. This work group do not see or respect the advances of midwifery or nursing training, research or evidence-based training or care.

CPD system now in existence has been the best practice introduced to the registration system.”

Do you think older/mature workers are under pressure to prove that they still ‘measure up’?

“This really depends on the hospital and the facility you work at. However trying to keep up with mandatory training is very difficult, plus do all the work in the ward. Sometimes you feel so overwhelmed and unsupported.

As an aside, the older nurse and midwife today seem to be doing more night duty/ late shifts /and weekends so that the younger nurse midwife can have time off for pregnancy, breast feeding , child-minding, and school holidays. I acknowledge that yes this is progressive and better for young mums in the child rearing years, and yes I was a trail blasé for this change. But when do we get the easier shifts? When do we get to spend quality time with our families?”

Do older/mature workers have a larger workload?

“It’s depends on the circumstance and patient acuity. In my case, I am an extremely experienced midwife and childbirth educator. It is not uncommon for me in the private sector to be running an education session and doing some patient care on the ward. We do tend to get the heavier/ more complex patient load usually the same number of patients allocated.

We are also left to teaching the students, the new grad on rotation, or even the new residents, new registrars on the how the ward or unit works. The practical day to day routine or stuff we do and oversee as well as look after our patients. Most of us when the NUM, MUM, or Team leader steps off the ward we run the ward and still do our patient care. Yes we do have a larger workload than our peers.”

What would help these older/mature workers feel more valued?

“Gaining a CNS2 status for years and experience noted especially if extra training and education was continued throughout your nursing/midwifery career. All extra qualifications over and above our hospital training have some recognition. Fairer allocation of shifts & holidays (especially festive period) the younger nurses and midwives who are young mums working some evenings, nights and weekends not just day shifts.

Have some sought of recognition of years of registration &/or years of working in our chosen profession. Perhaps the NSWNA could have a story or film event telling of the development of the modern Australian Nurse/ Midwife throughout Australian nursing history.”

What special skills would help older/mature workers feel more confident?

“All available IT skills, all training needed to become aux with knowledge and expertise required to work in the modern nurse/midwife area, power point presentation; and perhaps we can give patient communication (person to person) interaction sessions.”

Does stereotyping happen in your hospital? Or are older workers well respected for their wealth of knowledge?

We’d be very interested to know your comments. Leave them below or email us at admin@nurseuncut.com.au

Image credit: NSWNA

Perceived long-held stereotypes such as frailty, inflexibility and a fear of technology are pushing older workers towards premature retirement, research shows.

In this blog we asked what you thought about stereotypes of older workers in the nursing profession and how they made you feel.

According to the National Seniors report, Stereotype Threat and Mature Age Workers, older employees who experience “stereotype threat” – a belief that they’re the target of demeaning stereotypes – lose enthusiasm for the job to the point of quitting.

This suggests that the experience of stereotype threat at work can counteract long-espoused policy efforts to keep older Australians in the workforce longer.

Paul Hanrahan, a mature RN whose Grad year will commence in 2012, had this to say…

Paul Hanrahan

Technology is an interesting, complex social construction, we are all shaped by it and it is shaped by human beings.

Often we are all supposed to ‘take it up’ at a fast pace, embrace it, use it and demonstrate its worth. In actual fact often we are caught up on a process that few of us have a choice about, it is imposed rather than evaluated by the actual user.

Users are often shunned as the cohort who has little appreciation of the use or understanding of technology, however, it is the user who needs to be considered in the actual design and implementation process – and often they are not.

Information and Computer Technology (ICT) designers create systems that are based on a form of ‘logic’, a logic that is learned by them, so they too are socially shaped by technology. Often the ICT systems are generic and not specific in design or application within a particular workplace culture.

Much is promised in terms of efficiency, but the balance of that equation which is often overlooked is EFFECTIVENESS. Workplaces have systems derived from say the manufacturing sector and imposed upon the Health and Welfare sector, two entirely different workplace cultures.

Our hospitals become more ‘factory like’ and shift away from a culture of practice that is hospital based and human centered for our patients.

Stereotyping? Well quite a number of people acquire wisdom eventually, it may be 45, 55, 60 or 77 years of age but it comes to us all eventually. When one acquires wisdom one does not blindly accept all new things as good, worthy or even helpful.

Wise nurses will ask how may this assist with me, my patients, family and friends to live a better life? Then may come the level of resistance. Tis the latter term that is applied to older workers at times. It is not ‘resistance’ from a commonly understood perspective, but a questioning of the validity of how a form of technology may shape lives ‘for the better’. 

Effective workplaces are ones that have people from a variety of age brackets working collaboratively within them: new, inexperienced young, more experienced and young, more mature and more experienced, people with specialised knowledge and skills, older persons with much experience and (this is the one that is often left out) – experientially based knowledge that can’t be acquired from text book or a Google search – unique tacit based knowledge; That which is being lost, that which is not valued, that which is being ‘pushed out the door’ due to age, wisdom and questioning.

There is also the issue of technological fascination, some people are so swept up by ICT that whole lives and workplaces are pervaded by the implementation of systems without due consideration to why it is there. Why is it there? To make health care for patients better? By improving levels of health care and greater efficiency and effectiveness?

I will leave the reader to make up their own minds about the achievement of the latter in our ‘modern’ hospitals and Health care centers.

l am an older worker who is selective about what forms of technology l ‘take up’ BUT there is much over which l have no choice. l am shaped by it, by the significant others who have embraced ICT without much depth of analysis but with the sales personnel’s promise of efficiency, increases in productivity and cost savings.

The latter is all short term decision making, it is not sustainable in the longer term. Continuous spending on the infusion of technology into our hospitals does not equal positive prosperity for the majority, high levels of employment, or greater efficiency.

 There are limits when one is working with people in a humane context and the ‘product; is people. Patients who are ill are not the same, but unique; just the same as the nurses, doctors, and health and welfare personnel that serve them are. There are limits and the limits are being breached.

What is left in the organisation when all the people go home? Not much. The knowledge and talent has just gone through your doors. Organisations MUST work hard to retain knowledge and talent. Tacit knowledge is invaluable.

Does stereotyping happen in your hospital? Or are older workers well respected for their wealth of knowledge?

We’d be VERY interested to know your comments. Leave them below or email us at admin@nurseuncut.com.au

Image credit: NSWNA, and ANF Because We Care

The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) says the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia is deterring nurses and midwives from wanting to rejoin the workforce, with their $10,000 ‘refresher courses’.

ANF federal secretary, Lee Thomas, said the courses would mean “nurses and midwives who have been out of the profession for five to 10 years undertaking a three-month re-entry competency course, with fees of up to $10,000 being charged”.

“While re-entry courses are important this one size fits all solution does not consider individuals needs.”

The full article is published in the Australian Ageing Agenda, which you can read here.

According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board, new laws passed by all state and territory governments on 1 July 2010 had mandated standards that every health practitioner must meet.

The harmonised national standards, agreed upon by all state and territory health ministers, relate to criminal history checks, professional indemnity insurance, continuing professional development, English language skills and recency of practice.

“The whole scheme is about protecting the public … to provide for robust public protection, and the Board believes the standards are necessary for registered practitioners to provide safe care to Australians,” a spokesperson for the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia told AAA.

“The Board does not run the re-entry courses for nurses and midwives and does not set the fees for them. This is done by education providers and costs vary depending on whether there is any government subsidy.

“If a nurse has been out of the workforce and wants to return to practice, they need to apply to the Board for advice about what kind of program will bring their skills up to date. The Board gives advice tailored to the individual.

“They make the individual judgements about each nurse. The issue, I believe, is that in New South Wales there was no [previous] requirement that people had recency of practice before July last year; they could still be renewed even if they hadn’t worked for 20 years. The board felt that was not safe, and they were also required by the legislation to set those standards.”

“There is currently an oversupply of graduate nurses, resulting in more nurses than jobs,” the spokesperson added, in response to the union’s argument that Australia faced a “critical shortage” of nurses.

“We believe it’s ludicrous that experienced nursing and midwifery professionals are now being forced to pay significant amounts of money to be re-registered,” the ANF’s Lee Thomas said.

“The industry should be welcoming back nurses and midwives with open arms, instead, they’re making it financially unattractive, in some cases impossible, for them to get back to work.”

According to the ANF, research shows 15 per cent of nurses are retiring every five years with an exodus of 90,000 nurses expected to retire up by the year 2026.

”Quite simply, the number of new nursing graduates cannot keep pace with the exodus of nurses, resulting in a critical shortage of nursing and midwifery professionals,” Ms Thomas added.

“The aged care sector alone urgently needs 20,000 extra nurses to meet the challenges of Australia’s ageing population.”

There have been a lot of comments about the expensive fees in relation to this course – which you can read here.

But what do you think about the Nursing and Midwifery Board’s response?

Do you agree there is an over supply of graduate nurses? Or do you think there is a critical shortage?

Do you think the re-entry competency course is justified?

Image credit: NSWNA.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our free Nurse Uncut e-newsletter here!

The Australian Government must consider economic sanctions against Fiji’s military regime in the wake of new laws that place even greater restrictions on human rights in the island nation, say unions.

ACTU President Ged Kearney said a new decree quietly introduced by the Fiji Government was even more draconian than past laws, with anyone who campaigned for workplace rights able to be considered a terrorist and placed in jail indefinitely.

“Just two weeks ago Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama spruiked the removal of the draconian Public Emergency Regulations (PER), which banned public meetings and freedom of the press, as part of his desire to encourage free debate in the lead up to democratic elections in 2014.

“But Mr Bainimarama seemingly forgot to add that he had concurrently introduced another set of laws that give his illegal Government sweeping powers of arrest and detention without a warrant and for 16 days. Under the new laws, ‘terrorism’ is redefined to cover any act that is seen to be campaigning to influence the government towards change.

“This essentially means that a Fiji worker or union leader that asked the ACTU or Australian Government to pressure the Fiji Government to change its draconian ways would be guilty of an act of terrorism. That person may be imprisoned for life.

The new decree also includes:

• A ban on the manufacture, use, sale, display or possession of any flag, banner, emblem or picture if the Prime Minster deems it in the public interest to do so;
• An application to hold a public meeting must be submitted to the police seven days in advance, with a possible five years imprisonment and $10,000 fine if the meeting occurs without a permit;
• Control over freedom of movement, including where a person may travel or live in Fiji, at the discretion of the Government;
• Empowers a police officer to arrest a person without warrant and detain him or her without charge for up to 16 days by order of the Prime Minister and enables the military to perform police function, by the consent of the police;
• Further curtails freedom of speech, with any person who makes any statement, likely to undermine Fiji’s economy or financial integrity to face 10 years imprisonment and/or a $50,000 fine; and
• Quashes the role of the judiciary, with the courts unable to hear any claim by anyone challenging the validity, or legality of any decision made by the commissioner of police, any divisional police commander, the Prime Minister or any public official under this decree.

“This new decree is even more draconian and places even more restrictions on the rights of Fijians than past laws. The Australian Government cannot turn a blind eye. We renew our call to the Australian Government to reconsider its recent decision to renew a textile, clothing and footwear scheme with the Fijian Government under a regional trade agreement.

“The agreement which gives unfettered access to the Australian market – the largest market for Fijian textile products –merely legitimises an oppressive regime that has persistently flouted human rights in the face of international and local opposition.”

What do you think of the situation in Fiji? How would you like to see the Australian Government act?

Image credit: Melody Tan via Flickr

Don’t forget to subscribe to our free Nurse Uncut e-newsletter here!

The NSW Nurses Association has sought the urgent assistance of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission to stop planned cuts to facility space at the Alstonville Community Health Service.

NSWNA members at the Alstonville Community Health Service, and its parent service Lismore Community Health, were advised that Northern NSW Local Health District CEO, Chris Crawford, had directed the Alstonville service’s premises be downsized to half its current floor space. This was to take effect from 31 December 2011.

Agreement was reached through the NSW IRC, for any change to be delayed until February 28, to allow for greater consultation with staff and the community and more discussion about the service’s infrastructure needs.

NSWNA general secretary, Brett Holmes, said this was an appalling, penny-pinching decision for Mr Crawford to impose on nursing staff and the local community and is actually a negative move in such a growing and vibrant community.

“It also gave nursing staff only four working days to completely reconfigure the service to fit into the reduced space. The decision was also made without any consultation with the nurses or their union representatives. I am not aware of any community consultation either. So we welcome this breakthrough in the NSW IRC, which will help rectify these deficiencies in the Local Health District’s approach.

“Alstonville clinic provides generalist community health nursing and child and family health nursing services to the towns of Alstonville and Wollongbar, which have a growing number of families with children and also many retired and elderly people.

“The generalist community nurses provide wound management, at the Alstonville clinic and in people’s home, palliative care and hospital in the home. The child and family health nurses provide developmental assessments, support to families with young children and the universal home visiting service to all parents with newborns, which is a compulsory service required by the NSW Families department.

The nurses also work together to provide childhood immunisation services to the two communities.

“I am advised the proposed reduction in working space will cause services like onsite wound management to cease. It will also reduce waiting room space for families attending the clinic, with many, including babies and young children, being forced to wait on the footpath.

“With the proposed cuts now postponed the NSWNA will use the time to campaign to protect community nursing services in Alstonville and ensure the nurses have the necessary space to continue providing high-quality healthcare to their local communities. We will be asking the people of Alstonville and Wollongbar to join us in that campaign,” Mr Holmes said.

What do you think of the planned cuts to facility space? Why do community nursing services need to be protected?

Image credit: Lower Columbia College via Flickr

Don’t forget to subscribe to our free Nurse Uncut e-newsletter here!

Australian unions have launched the Speak Up campaign so that workers have a say in making sure their workplaces are safe and healthy.

ACTU Assistant Secretary Michael Borowick said it was important that workers understood they would have enhanced rights to elect their own health and safety representatives under the harmonised occupational health and safety (OHS) system.

“Workers need to know that when they are confronted by a health or safety issue in their workplace, they don’t have to deal with it alone,” Mr Borowick said.

“They have an iron-clad right, under law, to elect their own health and safety representatives. These reps act as watchdogs within the workplace, making employers comply with the law well before regulators have to become involved.

“They have rights to stop work and demand improvements when there are health or safety concerns.

“Employers who interfere with the work of health and safety reps, or refuse to allow them to properly represent their workmates, are breaking the law.

“Importantly, unions can offer a wealth of expertise, know-how and training to back up those reps, and make sure they can perform the roles they have been elected to, and to provide workers with assistance to make their own workplaces safer.

“Health and safety is a fundamental industrial issue and a major priority for unions, who have a long and proud history of delivering healthier and safer workplaces for Australians, frequently in the face of employer and business resistance. Over the last 160 years unions have campaigned tirelessly to reduce injury and illness within the workplace, and many of the current rights and conditions have been fought for and won by unions.

“It is no coincidence that workplaces with a union presence are far more likely to be safer than those without unions. Collectively, with the support of a union, workers are far more able to speak up about health and safety than they can individually.”

Alongside the distribution of Speak Up campaign materials in workplaces around Australia, a new website www.safeatwork.org.au has also been launched.

The website will be a hub of information for workers and OHS reps about common health and safety issues, rights and obligations, tips for safer workplaces, legislation, and news. Workers will also be able to post questions about health and safety and get advice from union experts.

What do you think of the Safe at Work campaign? What are some of the health and safety concerns you have at your workplace?

Image credit: NSWNA

Don’t forget to subscribe to our free Nurse Uncut e-newsletter here!

Did you know that in Australia in the last two decades have had a dramatic delince in permanent work? We have more workers in casual, contract and labour hire employment. How does this impact your life? We want to know.

The Australian union movement has commissioned an independent inquiry to look at the way insecure work impacts on workers, their families and the community and how insecure work can be improved.

A panel of experts and community members chaired by former Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe will conduct the Insecure Work Inquiry, listening to the stories of workers around the country. The Inquiry will also be taking submissions from individuals regarding their experiences of insecure work.

What is your experience of ‘insecure’ work? Tell us your story by using this helpful guide:

1.  What is your name and contact details?
2.  Where do you work? (If you don’t want to say where you work, say what industry you work in and the size of your employer.)
3.  What job do you do?
4.  Are you employed full-time, part-time, casual, for a fixed period, as a contractor or perhaps something else?
5.  How do you feel your work or a previous job is insecure? For example:

• Would you like to be a permanent employee but you are not?
• Do you miss out on entitlements (like paid leave)?
• Would you like more certainty or control about how much work you get each week?
• Have you ever had a request for more flexible hours refused?
• Do you have a lack of security and/or uncertainty over the future of your job?
• Do casuals, temps or labour hire undercut your wages and threaten your job?
• Do you have a lack of voice in your workplace over conditions and/or hours?

6.  How does the insecurity affect you and your life outside of work? For example:

• Does your work or your partner’s work intrude into home/family time?
• Would you like to take leave but you are not eligible?
• Do you find it hard to make ends meet or budget?
• Are you unable to get a loan?
• Does insecure work affect your career progression and opportunities?
• Do you have limited access to workplace training and development?
• Do you feel uncomfortable raising health and safety issues in your workplace?
• Are you forced to work on public holidays or are you worried about having to work on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday or Anzac Day?

7.  What would you like to see change to improve your job security? For example:

• Should casuals or temps or labour hire be able to choose to become permanent after a certain length of regular service?
• Should workers be able to take long service leave if they have worked for ten years, no matter how many different employers they have had?
• Should all workers be able to take paid annual leave, sick leave or carer’s leave no matter whether they are permanent or not?
• Should employers agree that work should only intrude into home time in an absolute emergency?
• Should certain public holidays continue to be restricted trading days and should employee rights to refuse to work on public holidays be strengthened?

We would appreciate it if you could Include your story about Paid Parental Leave
Having a baby can be a stressful time, financially and emotionally. It can be more stressful for those in insecure work. Workers can now access the Government’s Paid Parental Leave Scheme in addition to any paid leave they may be eligible for at work. There is a minimum work test to access the Government’s Scheme.

1. Have you recently had paid or unpaid leave after having or adopting a baby?
2. Did you meet the minimum work test and get the Government’s Paid Parental Leave?
3. Did you request or take any extra paid leave from your employer?
4. Did you request or take any additional unpaid leave from your employer?
5. How did this help (paid or unpaid leave)?
6. How would additional paid leave have made things easier?
7. Did you get to return to work part time or with the hours you wanted?

Where to send your story
The Insecure Work Inquiry is an independent inquiry, which is part of the Australian Council of Trade Union’s Secure Jobs. Better Future campaign.

Please email your story to the Insecure Work Inquiry at inquiry@securejobs.org.au.
You can also send Unions NSW a copy of your story at mail@unionsnsw.org.au.

The Inquiry will conduct public hearings in each State in February and March 2012.
For more information about the dates and details of the Inquiry please contact inquiry@securejobs.org.au and check the website www.securejobs.org.au for updates.

Unless you wish your submission to be confidential, it will be published online, along with your name, and may be mentioned during hearings and in the final report produced by the Inquiry. If you wish your submission to be confidential you must indicate this. If your submission is marked confidential, it and your name will not be published, but the Inquiry may still contact you.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our free Nurse Uncut e-newsletter here!

Consistent with an increasingly globalised world millions of nurses find themselves on the move.

Sometimes nurse migration occurs within a nation’s borders with nurses migrating from rural to urban areas or from the public to the private sector. Or they may move from the health care sector to the wider health industry, for example from a hospital to a pharmaceutical company.

But increasingly, and for differing reasons, more and more nurses are opting for global mobility. This international migration of nurses is not only greater in scale than in the past it is different in its direction and location.

Traditionally, international nurse migration was from one industrialised nation to another. Irish nurses went to Britain; New Zealand nurses came to Australia.
A recent phenomenon has been the rapid growth in the movement of nurses from developing countries to industrialised countries.

Public Services International (PSI), to which the NSWNA is affiliated, is documenting the experiences of migrant health and social care workers in their countries of origin and their countries of destination.

The research aims to gather evidence to improve international union policies on migration and health care.

PSI recently held a symposium on the plight of migrant nurses, we blogged about Tulia’s migration from Fiji to Australia here.

Are you a migrant nurse? Would you like to tell us your story? Email us at admin@nurseuncut.com.au!

Image credit: NSWNA

Don’t forget to subscribe to our free Nurse Uncut e-newsletter here!

The longer a patient waits in Emergency Department the higher the risk of death, according to a massive Canadian research project.

The British Medical Journal says researchers gathered data from everyone who visited any ED in Ontario over a five-year period. This gave them data on a staggering 22 million visits.

Fourteen million of these patients were seen and then sent home. These patients were followed up to see what happened to them – especially if they had died.

Internal hospital data also gave the average waiting time in the ED when patients arrived. This allowed researchers to measure the odds of death for patients discharged when the average wait in ED was less than four hours, compared to patients discharged when the wait was less than one hour.

Patients sent home when the average wait in the ED was more than six hours, were twice as likely to die as those sent home after a wait of less than one hour. The odds ratio was similar for patients measured as high or low urgency at triage.

The clear trend in the data showed each step up in waiting time resulted in a higher risk of death.

The study has been praised as an excellent example of effectiveness of good quality computerised health records and the knowledge they can yield.

These results are not surprising to us. How about you?

Image credit: Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_department

Don’t forget to subscribe to our free Nurse Uncut e-newsletter here!