Members and leaders of the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) rallied in front of the Hamilton General Hospital to criticize a decision that they’re concerned will lead to fewer nurses in the operating room.
On Wednesday, more than a hundred people marched in front of the hospital as part of what Bernie Robinson, interim president of the ONA, called an information picket about the introduction of operating room assistants at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) hospitals.
She said the union is concerned that this decision will result in “non-regulated people” in roles normally held by registered nurses.
“Our main concern is patient safety,” said Robinson.
“Nurses train for years to provide the kind of care that patients need and receive in our hospital system. Delivering medication should be up to a trained professional, someone who has the knowledge base to prepare the medication, administer it, and follow through with the observations and make sure that it’s effective.”
A spokesperson for HHS said the ONA is “providing inaccurate information” and that operating room assistants work alongside two nurses in the operating rooms.
“OR assistants do not perform regulated work done by nurses and no OR nurses at HHS have been eliminated,” reads the statement from HHS.
“OR assistants are a vital member of the OR team and HHS is proud to have them working in our facilities.”
Jillian Watt, president of CUPE 7800, which represents 4,600 frontline workers at HHS — including OR assistants — said the concept of having operating room assistants is not a new one and that it’s actually already been implemented at about 20 hospitals in Ontario.
“These hospitals find patient care is not compromised,” said Watt in a statement. “Rather the addition of these assistants allows RNs and RPNs in the OR to focus on clinical patient care.”
Watt also said the union is concerned about “the treatment – verging on intimidation” of members who are working as operating room assistants.
Robinson said there should be room for both registered nurses and OR assistants in the operating room, saying additional care is “desperately needed” within the health-care sector to address surgical backlogs.
She also said no registered nurses have been eliminated so far but said the union is concerned that that’s the next step.
“What we are concerned about is the roles that they are taking over that have been regulated roles for us. We still have to be the ones observing what they’re doing and to me, it’s not the proper place for them to be.”
Several other Hamilton organizations and union representatives joined Wednesday’s information picket, including the Hamilton Health Coalition, Environment Hamilton, and Hamilton ACORN, as well as chapters for steelworkers and a number of teachers’ unions.
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