Quebec nurses’ skills not utilized to full potential: OIIQ

The skills of nurses are underutilized in Quebec’s healthcare system, according to a statement released Thursday by the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ). It is not normal for night nurses to be used to their full potential more than day nurses in the same facility, the Order argues.

On average, 40 per cent of the activities performed by the 86,000 nurses practicing in Quebec could be performed by another professional, such as a nursing assistant or patient care attendant.

“If we want to improve access, which is the Achilles heel of our system, we need to maximize this potential,” said Luc Mathieu, president of the OIIQ, in an interview.

There are variations in nursing practice across the province. For example, two comparable hospitals will not allow nurses to perform their work in the same way and with the same professional autonomy.

“There’s also a reality in hospitals: day shift nurses can do certain things, evening shift nurses can do a little more, and night shift nurses can do even more. But what happens between shifts? There are fewer staff on the evening shift and even fewer on the night shift. Yet they are the same nurses, with the same skills and the same patients. So how is it that the way work is organized prevents them from contributing their full potential?” asks Mathieu.

There are “barriers to collaboration,” and both Santé Québec and the institutions could do a better job of distributing the activities performed by the various health professionals.

The OIIQ is calling for a major review of interprofessional collaboration in order to improve front-line efficiency. “We don’t want to do this alone, we want to do it with other stakeholders, other healthcare professionals. We’re not talking corporate jargon here, we’re really looking at improving access,” says Mathieu.

Nurses in an expanded role 

In some remote regions of Quebec, particularly the far North, nurses assess patients, make diagnoses, and can write prescriptions. These nurses are called “extended role” nurses, but according to Mathieu, they are simply doing their job with full autonomy. 

“It’s not so much that they have an expanded role, it’s that they fully occupy… they are putting to use all the potential of what they learned in school,” argues the president of the OIIQ. 

He was recently visiting the North Shore and what struck him was that, far from the major urban centres, there is a focus on making optimal use of nursing skills. This should inspire the entire province, he said. 

In an editorial published Thursday by the OIIQ (Quebec Order of Nurses), Mathieu addresses nurses, urging them to ask their managers if they notice a discrepancy between their scope of practice and what they are authorized to do. “The scope of practice of the profession is defined by the Nurses Act. This legal framework specifies our area of ​​responsibility and establishes 17 reserved activities. With such a broad role, why limit us so much?” Mathieu concludes in his letter. 

—

The Canadian Press’s health coverage is supported by a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for this journalistic content.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews