Nurses set up picket lines in July following a strike vote, but they remain on the job. That is, their core job – nursing, performing their health care duties in hospitals and cancer centres across the province.
What they’re not doing is “non-nursing duties.” According to the BC Nurses Union, some of the work nurses are asked to do includes clerical work, changing light bulbs, emptying trash bins, and filling in for receptionists on their breaks.
The union claims between pressure to do these duties and to take on overtime, their members registered 2,300 reports of “intimidation” from management between the start of job action on July 2 and July 10.
We’re all hoping this strike is settled sooner rather than later, for the sake of nurses and patients alike.
But the list of non-nursing duties shows another problem with our health care system.
There are not enough doctors nor enough nurses to handle our aging population.
One way to make our health care system work more efficiently is to ensure that the medical specialists are doing the work that most needs doing.
After this contract is finalized, the province should commit to an audit of hospital work. If a nurse is doing work that should be done by clerks, custodians, security guards, or management, that’s time stolen from patients.
We need to reduce these administrative burdens. If it gets nurses back to their core work, it will save money and lives.