According to NAPE President Carol Furlong, a shortage of health care workers is an area of concern identified in the report. “As health professionals LPNS are an integral part of the health care team. The inability to recruit and retain LPNs will have a major impact on our health care system,” said Furlong.
“The licensing requirements for LPNs have changed. They now require more education and training to take on new duties including health assessments and the administration of medications. In spite of these changes and the higher level of nursing care they now provide, there has been a disregard for the need to compensate them fairly,” Furlong stated. “This is a major issue of contention for LPNs. Their responsibilities as nurses have increased and their workloads are even more excessive, yet the compensation does not reflect the reality for LPNs,” said Furlong.
“We believe that the shortages identified in the labour market report will be further exacerbated by the fact that value of the work of Licensed Practical Nurses has not been acknowledged in a tangible way. There will be little incentive to enter this nursing field unless action is taken to address the need to compensate LPNs for their new and enhanced role. If government is serious about preparing for the future we have to ensure that incentives to enter the profession for LPNs are addressed,” said Furlong.
For further information, contact:
Joanne Metcalfe
Communications Consultant, NAPE
P: (709) 570-2501
C: (709) 730-3228
E: jmetcalfe@nape.nf.ca
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