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Nursing crunch in Smith

Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Fort Smith (Sep 04/06) - While Hay River has a well-documented problem attracting doctors, Fort Smith needs more nurses.

"A shortage of nurses has always been an issue," said Dana Rasiah, the chief executive officer of the Fort Smith Health and Social Services Authority. "We've managed to keep afloat by bringing in locum nurses."

The shortage is particularly noticeable in the acute care unit of the Fort Smith Health Centre.

The hospital has three long-time nurses in the unit, which includes emergency, but Rasiah noted, "The total number of long-term positions in that unit is eight."

The unit also currently has one locum - a nurse who works short periods in various communities.

Rasiah explained if the number of nurses ever falls below three in acute care, a scheduling problem would arise.

"We have to maximize the use of the existing people, which is not the ideal way to run it."

It's also more costly in terms of overtime pay, he said.

"I wouldn't go as far as to say care is diminished because of it," Rasiah said.

The number of nurses in acute care looked like it was about to fall below three on Aug. 28, when a locum could not come as planned and a full-time nurse was on vacation. The hospital managed to obtain a different locum.

"The problem nowadays is there are times when people pull out at the last minute," Rasiah said.

If a locum nurse hadn't been found by Aug. 28, he said the worse case could have been calling the long-term nurse back from her holidays. Over the last several months, there have usually been five or six nurses in the acute care unit.

In all, the Fort Smith Health Centre has 14 nursing positions, along with four licensed practical nurses. Recruitment is underway to fill several vacant positions, aside from the vacancies in acute care.

Rasiah said Fort Smith has a normal complement of three doctors. "We've been doing fairly well in that area," he said, noting the town has two long-time doctors and there is always a good supply of locums to fill the third spot.