The Montreal’s Children’s Hospital is on a hiring blitz of neonatal nurses after recognizing a critical shortage in the NICU.
More than 20 positions are open. The hiring should be completed by the fall.
NICU nurses at the new Montreal Children's Hospital sounded the alarm Monday that a nursing shortage is potentially putting critically ill babies in danger.
They say the nurse-to-baby ratio is much too high.
Neonatal nurses say the ideal ratio is one nurse to one critically ill baby, but that the ratio can go to one nurse to three babies as a maximum.
The nurses’ union says that one to three ratio is now the norm, and it's possible one nurse could be required to care for five or six babies.
The problem, they say, is that children in NICU require intense monitoring and because the new hospital has individual rooms for each child, it's very difficult for the nurses to know if a baby is in distress if they are caring for too many.
It causes anxiety and fear that something could go wrong and the nurses say it's unfair to them, and to the babies who need such intense and individual care.
“You don’t always hear a baby because they are intubated. Most of them are on a respirator, and they don't cry so you don't hear them, so it adds to the stress of the nurse that if she misses something, it could be drastic for the baby,” said Denyse Joseph, interim president of the MUHC nurses' union.
The MUHC recognizes the nursing shortage is serious and is now in the process of an aggressive hiring campaign for neonatal nurses.
In a statement the hospital said:
"As the recruitment initiative takes place, and in the best interest of patient safety, we have reduced the number of NICU beds we can operate from 52 to 45 at the Glenn site."
It's a great start, said the nurses’ union, adding that it is pleased with the outcome.
They point out, however, this kind of job requires considerable training, pairing younger neo-natal nurses with more experienced ones.
They want hospital management to take into consideration that training takes time.
While the hospital wants to reopen the 52 beds once the hiring is over, the nurses’ union hopes the time frame remains flexible.
