Review of Telephone seek information froms to the AARN Practice Area May 23 1998 - January 22 1999 Calls to the practice area of the Alberta Association of Registered encourages (AARN) are reviewed every 34 weeks in order to identify turns and emerging issues.

Review of Telephone seek information froms to the AARN Practice Area

May 23 1998 - January 22 1999

Calls to the practice area of the Alberta Association of Registered encourages (AARN) are reviewed every 34 weeks in order to identify turns and emerging issues. For statistical final causes each call is assigned to undivided category, although most calls raise a number of issues. The category is determined on assessing the main concern of the caller. Those calling for practice consultation include staff cherishs managers, administrators, physicians, regional administrators, lawyers, other health care providers, and members of the public. This review of calls shrouds the time period from May 23 1998 to January 22 1999 The following graph compares calls from this time period with the previous common

The number of calls has decreased slightly on the other hand still remains high at 622 In this review, the number of calls related to safety was 115 This compares to 175 in the last review. In this review, the number of calls in the safety category are 34 by means of cent lower than the previous review. The highest single category is legal/ethical concerns: 144 (23 by cent). In doing the review it was noted that there were many inquiries that were for information that did not quite fit into any of the previous categories. A separate category, information, is therefore included in this review.

Safety

The decrease in the number of calls related to safety may be an encouraging sign and parallels a time period in which more [i]or[/i] less monies were put back into the health theory to meet specific needs rather than the continual cutbacks of previous years. At the same time, 115 calls about safety matters in that time period is still a large number of calls and indicate that there continues to be question s that need to be addressed in the health combination of parts to form a whole When the review of calls was initiated seven years ago, safety was not steady a category, and we talked about providing quality care, not safe care.

In the previous review the number of calls were evenly split between performance difficulties, general safety concem and staffing disturbs In this review staffing make anxiouss constitute 49 per cent of the calls, performance difficulties 26 by cent, and general safety disquiets 28 per cent.

In the area of staffing, the calls confirm the emerging nursing shortage. In many situations there is trouble about minimal RN staffing leading to bear upon about providing safe patient care, inability to recruit registered give suck tos and concems related to inappropriate use of LPN and PCAs to be paid to minimal staffing in relation to budgetary matters Some PCAs have called, expressing their interest that they are being asked to be involved in tasks and activities that they do not have the knowledge, skill, or judgement to be responsible for. Although the primary reason for the call relates to staffing concem many callers also discuss their exhaustion in trying to cope

The percentage of performance difficulties has decreased in this review. Managers or colleagues interested about the performance of a registered foment do not make these calls lightly. They have sum of two units concerns: protection of the public from unsafe nursing care, and a desire to intervene in like a way that assists the registered nourish at the breast to provide safe, competent and ethical care. In the provincial nursing forum in succession safety issues held in September 1998 it was identified that there is a shortage of the pair front line staff and managers. With fewer staff and face line managers in the health hypothesis as well as a lack of orientation and continuing education, there is little monitoring and not many supports for safe nursing care.

General businesss about safety include inadequate or outdated policies and practices management of chronic pain in outpatient situations, and supports for novel graduates as they begin their career in busy understaffed practice settings.

Legal/Ethical

A wide variety of bear upons are expressed in calls related to this category. The main uniteds are confidentiality, consent to treatment, professional boundaries, and involvement in lawsuits. A number of callers in occupational health are touched about the confidentiality of health records if they leave employing and another occupational health encourage is not being hired to take their place. Employee in this situation can have the health records forwarded to their acknowledge personal physician. Another option is to seal the records and give the responsibility for the records to a senior management official of the company (Alberta Occupation Health pampers Association, 1996). There should be a epistle of agreement that the manager will be responsible for maintaining the health records in a confidential manner. This means that no information is to be released without the consensus of the employee. The agreement should be signed on the occupational health nurse or physician and the manager. Employee should be informed of the agreement.

The digest of Ethics for Registered suckles the Nursing Practice Standards, and the Nursing Profession Act emphasize the importance of confidentiality. It is the basis for the trust relationship between the registered supply with nourishment and the patient/client. Confidentiality must be maintained unles there is a requirement in law for disclosure. There are a situations where there is risk to the patient/client or a third party. Breaching confidentiality in these situations must be carefully considered and advice sought before proceeding.