SUNstoppable Spotlight
Registered Nurses & Registered Psychiatric Nurses Achieve Success through Independent Assessment Committee
SUN is pleased to share that the RN/RPN staff from Local 75 (Royal University Hospital, Irene and Leslie Dube Centre for Mental Health), and SUN Provincial have successfully escalated 81 Work Situation Reports (WSRs) to an Independent Assessment Committee (IAC) and were awarded numerous gains for safe patient care.
An IAC is the last resort within the SUN/SAHO collective agreement to address workload concerns specific to registered nurses.
The registered nurses and Local have worked diligently with the employer since their last IAC Report (December 2014) and have documented progressive workload and professional practice concerns for resolution. Repeated attempts at finding solutions were unsuccessful at the Joint Nursing Advisory Committee and from the SHA Board of Directors.
The IAC Panel of three registered nurse experts unanimously confirmed the concerns brought forward by SUN members and responded with expanded recommendations for professional practice, patient safety, and work environment improvement.
"The issues identified at the Dube Centre are enduring. As identified in this report, nursing staff are feeling unsafe and vulnerable, unable to deliver appropriate, timely, and safe care to their patients. They are presently unable to meet several professional standards and obligations." (IAC, 2023, p. 50)
"It is the hope of the IAC that the detail and the recommendations provided in this report heighten awareness of the serious, unstable situation existing at the Dube Centre and facilitate the path towards improvements." (IAC, 2023, p. 50)
The IAC Panel provided 39 recommendations across four primary themes:
- High Patient Acuity/Complex Patient Needs
- RN/RPN Staff Complement and Ancillary Staff Mix
- Dysfunctional Physical Space, and
- Environmental Safety and Security
Binding recommendations have been confirmed between SHA Leadership and SUN. Work will continue between Local 75 and unit leadership to implement the increased baseline staffing and address the complex workload needs inclusive of:
- Immediately implement an increase in baseline RN/RPN staffing:
- For the Adult Inpatient Units:
- Two RN/RPN for Day Shift
- Four RN/RPN for Night Shift
- For the Child and Youth Unit:
- One RN/RPN for Day Shift
- One RN/RPN for Night Shift
- For the Adult Inpatient Units:
- Immediately implement sufficient and more balanced Charge Nurse coverage by ensuring two Supernumerary Charge Nurses for the Dube Centre on all shifts.
- SUN and SHA should collaborate on a roster that addresses proper staff mix to promote balance between junior and senior nursing staff.
- Clinical nurse educators to organize and deliver ongoing in-service/staff education sessions on current factors influencing psychiatric care delivery to supplement up-to-date, knowledge-based patient care.
- Clinical nurse educators and nursing coordinators should collaborate to provide a systematic process of mentoring and support for newly hired RN/RPN staff with emphasis on the night shift.
- Implement consistent, planned mentoring to support nurses to move progressively into leadership/charge positions to provide incentives for nurses to assume this role.
- Post all temporary ECT positions as permanent to create stability in the area (re: RN/RPN).
SUN Local 75 and the Local Nursing Advisory Committee will continue to work collaboratively with the employer to create a healthy, quality work environment focused on safe, competent, high-quality, and appropriate registered nursing practice and healthcare services for this complex and vulnerable patient population.
You can review WSR/NAC Learning Modules & Resources and NAC Leadership on the SUN website to learn more about work situation reports and the nursing advisory process.
