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本帖最后由 heysheep 于 2009-8-22 14:06 编辑 . m5 f0 |9 U& X- K
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Nurses call Alberta docs' flu pay outrageous/ U. \5 p! k7 u/ o3 e3 W1 [
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National nurses union condemns Alberta deal
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MONTREAL, QUE: APRIL 30, 2009 -- Montreal resident Amanda Mussgnug gets checked by triage nurse Sally Yip at the emergency ward of the St Mary's hospital in Montreal. Quebec registered the province's first confirmed case of swine flu in the Montreal area on Thursday, April 30, 2009.8 Y2 l& P+ X1 S
Photograph by: Phil Carpenter, Gazette
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- Y) _1 h* h1 p9 g. h. @It's "outrageous" that Alberta doctors should be negotiating extra fees for treating H1N1 flu patients during a pandemic, says the president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses.0 C2 ~! N0 |4 R1 B9 k
! m; Z. x$ x& CLinda Silas said she was "stunned" to hear doctors have negotiated a special payment rate as high as $518 an hour, in the event the Alberta government is forced to declare a public health emergency over the flu pandemic. Alberta nurses, who are salaried employees of the health system, will not be offered enhanced payment.: S2 p1 [% _4 N( E
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Silas, whose organization represents 158,000 nurses in every province except Quebec, called the plan "utter nonsense."
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"It's total craziness. I'm surprised the government and the (Alberta Medical Association) would stoop so low in negotiating an outrageous rate in case of a public crisis.4 y7 e7 |5 Z2 H& N. H
9 K7 ] V4 v% b( P1 d/ F/ m"Yes, nurses are under contract; well, so are doctors. None of them work for free. When we are talking about a public crisis that may happen, we think it's ridiculous."
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Saskatchewan may follow Alberta's example. Health officials there will meet next week with the medical community to discuss plans for compensating front-line physicians in the event of an H1N1 flu outbreak.2 Y5 m, g! R4 K6 c
" T; d5 @$ u& _) p7 ASilas said Alberta's approach will set a precedent for other provinces to follow. She said governments should be negotiating how to protect front-line health-care workers from infection--not how much to pay them.* U2 S% N3 a# f5 @
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"If I was negotiating doctors' salaries in New Brunswick, of course I'd be asking for the same thing," she said. "They are not only setting a precedent, but they are doing something outrageous."
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Silas said she was recently at a Canadian Medical Association conference, and there was no discussion of compensation for doctors during an outbreak.) @& ]5 e! Z3 \# m; B
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"This nonsense in Alberta wasn't discussed --or anywhere else, for that matter," she said. "Get real. Some doctors might be working 20 hours during a pandemic; that's what we're expecting during a pandemic--but not compensation. We deal with infectious diseases all the time.
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"What we need to be talking about is having enough health-care professionals to take care of the sick. We have to deal with the possibility that 40 per cent of the workforce might be at home sick."; l- [1 z* m) C1 t
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James Finstad, a spokesman with Alberta Health Services, said Alberta nurses are currently under contract and would be expected to live up to those terms if H1N1 mushroomed into a full-blown crisis.' G3 \) q. g+ u/ B/ s
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Doctors, on the other hand, are mostly self-employed. AMA president Dr. Noel Grisdale earlier told The Journal the steep hourly rates they're negotiating are meant to guarantee doctors' incomes if they abandon their practices to join a provincewide response to the crisis.! b# q% D! V1 l0 x3 n0 s
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Physicians who opt to work with the provincial plan will be guaranteed a minimum salary based on the average of what they've made over the past year.
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" N a2 k# U! ~+ yThey'll also have the option to bill either for every procedure they perform or every patient they see --known as fee for service--or at an hourly rate. The current proposed rates are $518.45 an hour during night shifts, $403.24 an hour during evenings and weekends, and $259.23 an hour during weekday shifts.) D3 |( J! K6 \8 B7 }. `
1 o+ l. o/ e- y7 AThe province and the AMA are also considering a program that would provide a guaranteed income for physicians unable to work because of illness as a result of treating pandemic patients.
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5 ]1 x& k1 Z6 a O# z; f2 FDr. Jim Dickinson, a flu expert at the University of Calgary, said one medical resident in Calgary has already contracted H1N1 from a patient and, if the flu spreads widely this fall, she likely won't be the last.
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; D4 C/ r* b7 G" b2 Q$ E4 }"Whoever is assessing the patient, getting up close right in front of them, is going to be at risk," Dickinson said.! A/ K/ t( |1 d: ~) b2 G q1 a0 f
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During the SARS outbreak in 2003, three nurses and one doctor died in Ontario. Eight doctors also died in Hong Kong, Dickinson said.
+ C4 Q+ X. e. U© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal |
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发表于 2009-8-21 17:27
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发表于 2009-8-21 20:59
今夜无眠发财了！！！
