Letters to the Editor

Post-RN Degrees

Just a note in regards to your recent magazine article, RNs Go Hack to School, published in February 2005. You wrote: "Young, Hall and Waterhouse were three of the first group of a dozen nurses that entered the post-RN degree program at Grande Prairie Regional College." They may have been the first "group" bur there are many of us who entered long before this; this program has been around for approximately six to seven years. Many of us entered into classes with younger students who were finishing their second year and working toward their degree. This was not an easy transition. As you are aware, many or most nurses who enter the post-RN are older. What made it much more difficult was the fact that we entered when the group was already formed and we were like "outsiders". Many of us struggled with night courses and correspondence courses to get to the point where we could then take the time to complete our degrees in the full-time setting.

Elizabeth Scott, RN, BScN

Grande Prairie

The first class of students from the post-RN program at Grande Prairie Regional College graduated in 1997. The group mentioned in the story was the first to graduate since the introduction of the Context Based Learning program described in the article. Alberta RH apologizes for the misunderstanding.

Publication of Disciplinary Hearing Summaries

Why does AARN publish disciplinary decisions in Alberta RN? How can we, as nurses and part of a caring profession, allow such public humiliation of our colleagues who are so obviously in need of help? What purpose is being served by publicly denigrating those members who are clearly ill, emotionally and/or psychologically, and are not able to perform their duties safely? If, like physical illness, those who are afflicted with psychological illness cannot help being ill, why then do we not also publicize those members who, for example, have broken a limb and are not able to perform their duties safely?

I truly believe that, given the right combination of bad circumstances in life, any one of us could be in the same position as those who are being disciplined. We need to realize that publicizing the acts of those among us who are clearly struggling is not only ethically inappropriate, but very ineffective, as there continue to be new cases of disciplinary action published in every issue of Alberta RN. I invite you instead to consider publication of the ways that each of us can support our colleagues, who are under duress, of the warning signs of mental disturbance, mental illness or lack of coping, of the extensive number of support groups available to those facing difficulty in their lives, and finally, of the need to maintain compassion not only for the patients that we care for, but each other.

Linda Kountz, RN, BScN

Calgary

Thank you for your letter which raises excellent questions on a difficult subject.

The purposes of publication are to educate the membership and to provide for public safety. Most Canadian nursing jurisdictions do publish the outcome of their discipline proceedings. For example, the College of Nurses of Ontario publishes detailed information on their website.

The AARN Professional Conduct Committee is given legal authority by the Regulations of the Nursing Profession Act to order publication regarding a conduct hearing. Regulation 454/83 says:

4. When the Professional Conduct Committee, Appeals Committee or a court makes an order under section 76 of the Act, the Professional Conduct Committee may direct that the name of the person who is the subject of the order, or the nature of the order, or both, be publicized in such a manner and in such a form as the Professional Conduct Committee considers appropriate in the circumstances of the case.

Since 1996, the Professional Conduct Committee has ordered publication of a short summary of the behaviour and of the sanction ordered by the committee with or without name, initials, or registration number of the member. Although the Committee has the legal right to publish elsewhere, the publications are normally limited to the Alberta RN magazine. On occasion, the Committee chooses no publication at all.

Both sides at the hearing are given the opportunity and expected to make submissions to the Committee on the issue of publication.

Currently, in considering both sanction and publication, the Professional Conduct Committee is asked to review the circumstances of the case before them in light of a number of factors which are mentioned in case law (laswal v. Newfoundland Medical Board [1996] NJ. No. 50). The AARN Senior Investigations Officer will address each factor and how those factors should be applied to arrive at the appropriate sanction and publication. Counsel for the member and the member are also welcome to, and expected to, speak to publication.

Factors Considered by PCC

Those factors that the committee is asked to consider include:

* the nature and gravity of proven allegations

* age and experience of the RN

* previous character of RN, including presence or absence of prior complaints or prior discipline findings