To deal with the problems with the nursing workforce, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, thinks he has found a “recipe” which will make “a difference” and which requires the decompartmentalization of professions and the local time management.
Minister Dubé mentioned these solutions on Monday when he addressed participants at the convention of the Order of Nurses of Quebec in Montreal.
As far as local timetable management is concerned, the results of the steps that have already been taken differ from one establishment to another. The Minister told participants that he wanted to know where things are going well and where things are not going well.
Full or part time?
And everything does not necessarily go through the creation of full-time positions, contrary to what we believed during the last negotiation of the collective agreements for nurses, argued the minister.
“During the last negotiation, which was quite long, there was really an approach to increase the full-time staff, for all sorts of good reasons. It gave results, I would say correct, but perhaps not up to our expectations. […] The situation, what people are asking for in the field, is also part-time positions, with the advantages and disadvantages. We’ve heard that a lot. We heard the message very well, very, very well heard the message, ”said Christian Dubé.
The president of the Order, Luc Mathieu, also noted that it all depends on how the full-time position is modulated, since it can be over four days, for example. “In some regions, they have posted full-time positions and there is no one applying for them. »
The FIQ (Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé) itself addresses this issue in its demands which have just been submitted for the renewal of the collective agreements: “that a full-time position be flexible to eight, nine or ten days in two weeks, at the option of the employee, by working the same number of hours per two weeks or by reducing the number of hours per two weeks, while benefiting from the advantages of full-time status”.
Paramedics at work?
The minister’s other move to try to resolve the problems related to the nursing workforce is that of decompartmentalising the professions, in order to lighten the workload of nurses.
Congress participants have mentioned the use of administrative agents, but the open positions do not always find takers.
“The decompartmentalization of professions, I believe in it a lot. We need to land the decompartmentalization of certain professions precisely to perpetuate certain advancements that we had during the pandemic, in particular with vaccination, ”pleaded Minister Dubé.
It is the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, also responsible for the Office des professions, who must take care of this file.
Minister Dubé cited the case of paramedics, who could be called upon more. “We are light years away at the pre-hospital level, among other things with the paramedics. »
Asked about this, the president of the OIIQ, Luc Mathieu, saw no objection in principle.
“It depends on what you hear. If we want to share activities, we have to know which ones and, after that, make sure that the paramedics have the preparation to do so and how we can collaborate with them. Of course, we are open to optimizing the contribution of everyone on the care team,” he said.