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| The Filipino nurses are given a job offer when-- passing the probationary period and passing the Canadian Registered Nurses Exam
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| Tuesday
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Some of the Filipino nurses fired by the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region said Friday they are hoping they can win reinstatement through the union grievance procedure.
"If we believe the collective agreement has been violated we file a grievance or if we feel the discipline is harsher than what may be appropriate we would file a grievance. I can't speak to specific instances,'' Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) president Rosalee Longmoore said.
If they don't get their jobs back before their one-year visas or work permits expire they will be deported. Two of the five nurses fired by the region have already negotiated settlements.
Debbie Beaton, the region's director of strategic human resources planning and development, told the Leader-Post she couldn't discuss the specifics of the firing to protect the privacy of the nurses.
The Filipino nurses are given a job offer conditional upon them meeting two criteria -- passing the probationary period and passing the Canadian Registered Nurses Exam. If either of those two criteria are not met then that job offer, which is based on those two conditions, is terminated and the nurses are provided a flight home.
"As an employer our first obligation is to patient safety and quality care and that is what drives our decision making. So you can be assured that when we dismiss an employee it is for a good reason,'' Beaton said.
The nurses claim the RQHR also has a responsibility to follow disciplinary procedures as set out in the contract by providing written warnings to a worker enabling the individual to rectify or correct any problems.
Pediatrics nurse Michelle Arches was assigned to a Pasqua Hospital orthopedics unit when she arrived in April. She commenced general orientation on April 15 and started working under the supervision of a mentor on May 20. Arches was fired Aug. 7.
"The reason for my termination was 'unsuitability' (to working on the unit). That's a broad term but that is the term they used,'' Arches said, explaining her job evaluations served as the basis for her termination.
Arches acknowledged that her job performance wasn't sterling, but noted she never received any warnings her job was on the line. If the region wasn't happy with her performance, she said, she should have been told and helped to correct the problems.
Veteran nurse Joe Guillergan said he was suspended with pay and subsequently fired on Oct. 27 for professional misconduct and breach of patient confidentiality.
His offence, he said, was calling the family of a young patient who was discharged from the unit to see how the young patient was doing. The child's mother complained to the health region.
It's a common practice in the Philippines to make follow-up calls to see how a patient is doing, he said.
In Saskatchewan, that phone call was contrary to the Health Information Protection Act (HIPA) which protects the confidential health information of a patient.
Guillergan explained his unfamiliarity with HIPA and the provincial nurse's code of ethics was the problem.
However Beaton said during the seven weeks of orientation there was a four-hour training session on the code of ethics and both the health region and the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association (SRNA) reinforced the need to protect patient confidentiality. The nurses were also required to sign a confidentiality agreement.
Adaptation to a new culture and a new workplace -- where nurses are dealing with heavy workloads, very sick patients and often working short staffed -- doesn't happen with the snap of the fingers, he said.
"It's take time really,'' Guillergan said.source
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posted by blogger @ 08:23
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