RPNS, RNS can help deliver sustainable care

Published in the Chatham Daily News, May 28, 2010.

 

Media coverage of the nursing cuts at Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) has made one thing clear: not enough people understand what a registered practical nurse (RPN) is, what they do, or the important roles they play in Ontario's health care system...

 

Perhaps we haven't been properly introduced. Right now, there are more than 29,000 RPNs providing high quality care in hospitals and other health-care facilities in Ontario. That's one quarter of all nurses working in Ontario. That means you or someone you love have been cared for by an RPN at some point.

 

RPNs pursue rigorous post-secondary education to fulfill their specialized roles in which they care for more stable patients who are moving along a predictable path of care needs. Virtually every hospital (including CKHA) has such patients. RPNs are skilled, knowledgeable and registered health-care experts who have been helping patients in Ontario for more than 70 years.

 

Using RPNs alongside RNs is a brilliant solution. Not only do RPNs provide specialized care, but they also help free up RNs to care for more critically-ill patients. And on average, RPNs cost approximately 30-per-cent less to employ.

 

It is never acceptable to lay off any nurse. But at the same time, it will be nearly impossible for any health-care institution (including CKHA) to achieve sustainable health care without using diverse health-care teams that include both RNs and RPNs.

 

RPNs are skilled, knowledgeable nurses who provide quality care in a cost-effective manner. In an era when wait times and staffing cuts threaten to grind our health-care system to a halt, it makes sense to embrace RPNs as part of the solution.

 

Dianne Martin, executive director of the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario Mississauga, Ontario