14 ~ Sunday, November 29, 1987 ~ North Shore News CRITICAL CARE LGH combats nursing shortage LIONS GATE HOSPITAL is em- barking on an innovative program to alleviate the chronic shortage of critical care nurses for its intensive care unit. The complex technology and concentrated care in the intensive care unit requires specially trained nurses who work 12-hour shifts providing one-on-one, round-the- clock nursing care for the hospi- tal’s most seriously il! patients. As LGH’s level of technology and expertise increases, more and more of the critically-ill patients, who would have been transferred to Vancouver, are remaining in the LGH intensive care unit. It is a high stress nursing area and the six-bed unit frequently runs at 103 per cent occupancy with a seventh bed pressed into emergency service. The shortages of available nurses with critical care training mean increased pressure and many hours of overtime for the ex- isting staff. The shortage is not unique to LGH; most Lower Mainiand hospitals are in need of more critical care nurses, and most obtain them by recruiting from the’ nursing staffs of other hospitals. LGH is therefore launching a new teaching program aimed at enabling the hospital to supply its own demand for critical care nurses. «= The new educational program, presented in collaboration with the B.C. Institute of Technology, is designed '.to. prepare Registered Nurses for. working in the hospi- tal’s intensive care unit. The first.component of the pro- gram:‘is. a..10-week* independent - study course that. includes a week- ly tutorial ‘conducted . within. the hospital by a BCIT instructor. This is followed by,a six-week Labora- tory-Clinical : Course in: the hospi- tal’s intensive care unit. ‘“‘Having the tutorials and the clinica] } component; carried , out at Lions Gate Hospital is an‘ advan- tage,’’ says LGH critical care areas nursing director Gillian Harwood. “The nurses train in the same’in- |." tensive. care. area.that they will be | : “working :i in. What we. are. doing. i is ‘bringing the BCIT “program into the hospital. ” Applicants ‘for, the 16-week pro- t gram must be. Registered’ Nurses ‘with at least two ‘years experience on. a. medical/surgical. unit, "Smoking: bylaw ‘starts in. W V THE PORTION of North Van-: smoking. bylaw that” “* couver City’s affects city - work-place | environ- ments will Officially conie into ef- fect Nov. 30... The bylaw’ $i Sestrictions to _, Smokers in public areas have: been - in effect since Sept. 30.” oy Under the: work-place portion of the bylaw, a place.of employment ois Aefined as any indoor’ place ‘of work other than (a) a private home’ that serves as a place of work, or _(b).a work place. occupied, solely by. an independent : ‘contractor, without’ employeés or only by: ithe partners to’a.parternship and‘ in-: . _cludes any parts of a retail shop used ‘exclusively by the employees of such premises, but does not in- clude a reception area. ; For bylaw information call the North Shore Health Department at 988-5231.” : LIFESTYLE PROGRAMS - ° , Stress Management. 1 © Weight Control For {information contact the YMCA we and must have CPR certification and a favorable evaluation by their cur- rent head nurse. Participants in the program will continue to be fully-employed at GH at half-pay with the course tuition covered by the hospital. Candidates successfully com- pleting the program will earn 17 credits towards the 36 credits re- quired for the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Advanc- ed Diploma in Critical Care Nurs- ing. Similar programs have proved successful at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver and Royal Inland Hos- pital in Kamloops. “When the program is com- pleted at the end of April, we should have five newly trained hurses for our intensive care savings in overtime paid to existing nursing staff that we must call back in to maintain the necessary staffing levels in the unit. It is a of training will be offset by the ** says Harwood. ‘The cost On the North Shore since 1955. 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