Early next year, the Vancouver Island Health Authority will implement a new staffing model that includes more care aides on patient units at Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals.
The so-called Care Delivery Model Redesign has been in place at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital since September.
The changes contained within this model are not without controversy, with the nurses’ union and other critics claiming it will put patients at risk.
Unfortunately, the resulting discussion has frequently denigrated the important skills care aides bring to the bedside, unfairly pitting them against nurses.
There’s no question that the number of nurses working in our province, as compared to our population, is among the lowest in the country, or that RNs and licensed practical nurses are trained to meet a range of medical needs that are unique to their professional nursing skills.
However, there is also no question that B.C. patients — especially the elderly and those with complex medical conditions — will greatly benefit from putting more care aides in place to meet their personal-care needs.
So it’s unfortunate that the expanded use of care aides has been linked to a reduction in nursing positions. It shouldn’t be one or the other.
Although the jury is still out on the strengths and potential weaknesses of VIHA’s new care model, there is much to be said for seeking new ways to improve care to patients at the bedside while improving the overall effectiveness of our public health-care system.
B.C.’s care aides are specifically trained to provide the elderly and others with every aspect of individual care — from feeding, bathing, toileting and dental care, to comforting those who are in pain, agitated, afraid or in the final stages of life.
They are the backbone of personal care and bedside support in our long-term care homes, and increasingly in B.C. hospitals.
When an individual is admitted to hospital, that person’s clinical and diagnostic needs are met by a full range of health-care professionals, including physicians, pharmacists, dietitians, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, nurses and lab workers.
But it’s often patients’ basic comfort and daily care needs that go unmet in the pressure-cooker conditions of our hospital wards.
Patients should not have to wait for assistance with toileting or feeding or dressing, or getting an extra blanket or a glass of water.
By bringing more care aides into our hospitals to provide for patients’ personal care needs we can improve staffing levels overall, and in that way raise the standard of care patients receive.
The fact is, there is more than enough work for everyone on health care’s front lines, so much so that health-care staff continue to work excessive amounts of overtime.
By using all members of the patient-care team to their full scope of practice — and by valuing the contributions each member brings to the team — we can help ease the overall pressures on our health-care system and ensure a higher level of direct patient care and support.
Care aides have both the training and ability to work as full partners in a patient-care team, where nursing professionals are freed to take on more of the medical and administrative responsibilities they can uniquely offer as RNs and LPNs.
They deserve the respect of both nurses and other medical staff on whom they rely for open communication, collaboration and support to provide quality care to hospitalized patients.
There is absolutely nothing to be gained from publicly undermining some allied health workers who have a great deal to offer patients in our often crowded, short-staffed acute-care centres.
In a modern health-care team, every person should have a clearly defined role that uses their skills and abilities to the top of their scope of practice.
The key is fostering a healthier, more co-operative culture of care among the health-care team.
For this to work, there must be willingness on the part of all involved to develop collaborative partnerships and honour a team approach to health care.
Certainly, careless rhetoric by critics of the new model that targets care aides as part of the problem, rather than part of the solution, doesn’t help.
Bonnie Pearson is the secretary-business manager of the 43,000-member Hospital Employees’ Union representing more than 270 different health-care job classifications, including the majority of care aides working in B.C.
