![['Debbie Forward — File photo']](https://saltwire.imgix.net/debbie-forward-1895444.jpg?cs=srgb&fit=crop&h=568&w=847&dpr=1&auto=format%2Ccompress%2Cenhance)
Ensuring a safe healthcare system is the primary goal of the Registered Nurses Union (RNU) latest campaign.
The RNU’s More Full-Time RNs Can Save A Lot initiative is designed to highlight the staffing practices currently being employed throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
“Inadequate RN staffing practices have become the norm in our province, and it’s having a negative impact on our members and the health care system overall,” Debbie Forward, RNU president said in a news release Monday.
“If RNs were staffed properly, it would create safer and healthier work environments and improve patient outcomes, while saving on health care costs,” she added.
The RNU has significant research to support its claim that adding more RNs to the system is the right decision.
Forward said documents show more than 240,000 hours of overtime logged by RNs in the past year including occasions where RNs worked anywhere from 16 to 24 hours consecutively.
Global evidence links lower RN staffing to unfavorable patient outcomes such as increased mortality, falls, infections, and longer lengths of stay – all of which increase health care costs.
RNU is looking to the provincial government to invest in safer RN staffing levels, and create a more efficient system.
“Core RN staffing hasn’t kept pace with our aging population and the high rates of disease in Newfoundland and Labrador. It’s time to re-evaluate staffing levels to ensure they meet patient demands,” Forward said.
For more, go to www.rnvalue.ca.
