Exemplary Care: Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses Working Together

The Association of Registered Nurses of PEI, the Licensed Practical Nurses Association of PEI, and the PEI Health Sector Council today announced the release of Exemplary Care: Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses Working Together. This publication highlights the guiding principles shared among RNs and LPNs and clarifies some of the key differences between RNs and LPNs in clinical practice. The discussion and examples presented in the report reflect the practice of typical nurses and is intended to promote an understanding of:

• the scope of practice of each group,
• the practice expectations when both groups work together, and
• the contributions that both groups bring to the care setting.

Having a full understanding of the different health care contributions of RNs and LPNs will enhance and improve the process of collaboration and effective decision-making in the clinical setting.

RNs and LPNs are two health professions that work very closely together. This document represents an important milestone in fostering mutual knowledge-sharing and increased collaboration between the two professions to relieve some of the tremendous human resource pressures on the health system and create an exemplary health care workplace. A more efficient, collaborative nursing practice benefits all of us – nurses, other allied health professionals, and clients of the health system. An efficient, collaborative nursing practice enhances our ability to recruit and retain nurses and leads to better utilization of human resources and, consequently, savings in financial resources.

I hope you get a chance to read and comment on this document.

Cheers,
Mark

Teams in Action: Primary Health Care Teams for Canadians

Last week the Health Council of Canada released a report on health teams in Canada called Teams in Action: Primary Health Care Teams for Canadians. The report was released exclusively as an e-document to limit paper use and save some trees in the process. The HCC asked if I would post a link to the report here and I am happy to oblige, especially considering its focus on Collaborative Practice, one of our favourite topics at the Health Sector Council.

The Teams in Action report profiles many of the public health benefits of collaborative practice in health care, what makes a collaborative health team and efforts to encourage the formation of health teams, and the extent of access to health teams across Canada. Although the report is not health human resource specific, it does make note of the human resource benefits of collaborative practice, including increased job satisfaction and greater knowledge and skill-sharing among health professionals in a collaborative practice setting. In addition to the main report, the HCC has also released backgrounders and supplementary reports specific to each Canadian jurisdiction, including Prince Edward Island. Check out the other site-specific documents here.

Have a look at the report, spread it around, and post your thoughts here. And I promise, the PEI Health Sector Council is not a branch of the Health Council of Canada, despite appearances from the last number of posts!

Cheers,

Mark