Frustration, stress and exhaustion has led many to jump ship to private agencies. Charlie Fidelman, Montréal Gazette, August 19, 2010 Montréal - One day after Québec announced a billion-dollar investment to revamp and expand the Sainte Justine University Hospital Centre, the federation representing the province's nurses said the government should address the nurses' working conditions before funding bricks and mortar and infrastructure development. Frustrated, the nurses are threatening to strike. Contract negotiations have been stalled since the nurses unanimously rejected the government's offer last month. ... Staff

Marianne White, Postmedia News, August 13, 2010 Québec - A nurses' federation in Québec is worried about a rash of suicides among health-care workers in Québec City after at least one of the nurses blamed her difficult working conditions in a suicide letter. Management of the Québec City's teaching hospitals network (CHUQ) said this week that four of its nurses killed themselves over an 18-month period. "It's alarming and this might not be an isolated case. It could happen in other hospitals," said Caroline Valiquette, an adviser at Québec's largest nurses' union, the FIQ.  ... Rash

Brian Daly, QMI Agency, August 12, 2010 Québec City – The opposition is calling for a public inquiry into suicides among Québec health-care workers after a QMI investigation revealed that at least five nurses at the same hospital killed themselves over an 18-month period. All of the nurses worked at Québec City teaching hospitals, QMI has learned. Their union says all had family problems, but a colleague of several of the dead women tells QMI that poor working conditions were to blame. ... Rash

Have power to prescribe drugs, perform tests. Jamie McCallum, Montréal Gazette, July 15, 2010 The Québec government will spend $117 million to add 500 front-line nurses to the health-care system by 2018, the Ministry of Health and Social Services announced yesterday. Unlike regular nurses, a frontline nurse must have completed a Master's degree after acquiring at least two years of experience in the field. In addition, they are authorized to prescribe medication, perform diagnostic tests, and provide prenatal care for the first 32 weeks of a pregnancy. Regular nurses are not authorized to do any of these. ... Québec

CBC, July 15, 2010 Québec is injecting $117 million to train 500 front-line nurse practitioners by 2018, in an effort to increase access to primary health care. Québec is injecting $117 million to train 500 front-line nurse practitioners by 2018, in an effort to increase access to primary health care. The province only has 25 so-called "supernurses" on the ground - well behind Ontario's estimated 1,900 nurse practitioners. Nurse practitioners have a graduate degree and can prescribe medication and provide prenatal care. ... Québec

Premiums to rise in new contract. Moderate rise in extra pay for working hardest jobs is the first in 25 years. Irwin Block, Montréal Gazette, June 11, 2010 When union leader Nadine Lambert resurfaces as an intensive-care nurse, she believes the proposed new deal on working conditions will result in major improvements for herself and 108,000 workers in Quebec's health and social services sector. Lambert, president of the nurses' union affiliated with the Confederation des syndicats nationaux, set aside her day job at Ste. Justine's Hospital to negotiate the non-monetary clauses of the tentative agreement reached Thursday. ... Nurses

Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, June 9, 2010 Ottawa - The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) offers absolute support to the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) as Quebec health care professionals take steps to improve their contract and working conditions. Nursing leaders from every province in Canada as well as their national president, Linda Silas, are offering FIQ their collective and personal best wishes and support. "The nursing shortage has been serious across Canada for many years now, and Quebec is no exception," said CFNU president, Linda Silas. ... Solidarity

Kevin Dougherty, Montéal Gazette, June 8, 2010 Québec - Nurses belonging to the 58,000-member Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec began a siege of the Québec National Assembly at 4 AM Tuesday, pledging to continue their protest until the assembly adjourns for the summer on Friday. Singing, "Oh non Charest," dancing and waving FIQ banners, about 100 nurses from across the province joined their president Régine Laurent in pressing their demands for better working conditions. ... Québec

Nurses' lobby decries draft law. Charlie Fidelman, Montréal Gazette, May 27, 2010 The head of Québec's federation of nurses is calling on the provincial government to scrap a draft law that would cut health sector training budgets by 25 per cent. "It's irresponsible," said Gyslaine Desrosiers, president of the Ordre des infirmiéres et infirmiers du Québec. "I'm surprised that we're attacking professional know-how in a health system that is already chaotic." Desrosiers said yesterday her goal is to raise the alarm about Bill 100 "so it doesn't get swept in silently." ... Health

Examiner, March 28, 2010 On Friday, March 26th, 2010, Quebec’s largest nurse union discontinued negotiations accusing the provincial government of contempt. “The contempt has gone on long enough and we can no longer continue with a government that is only proposing the pure and simple degradation of working conditions”, said Regine Laurent, president of the “Federation interprofessionnelle de la sante du Québec”. FIQ is demanding a shorter work week, converging permanent status to part-time positions and an end to mandatory overtime. The government declared it cannot afford the $2 billion figure that will result if union petitions are granted. ... Nurse

Montréal Gazette, March 27, 2010 Montréal – Accusing the government of contempt, Quebec’s largest nurses union said Friday it has broken off talks as Quebec tries to sign a collective agreement with its public sector workers. “The contempt has gone on long enough, and we can no longer continue with a government whose only proposition is the pure and simple degradation of the working conditions of the 58,000 nursing professionals we represent,” the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec said in a statement. The federation said it has a mandate to demand mediation, but will confer with delegates in the coming days to determine its next step. ... Québec

CTV, February 4, 2010 A group of Quebec health professionals was welcomed back from Haiti Thursday after spending the last two weeks working almost round the clock to help victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake. The 22 doctors and nurses returned to Montreal around 3 AM Thursday, energized by what they were able to contribute to the country where 200,000 people died. The volunteers were sent to the Caribbean island nation by the Center for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI), which organizes humanitarian projects around the world. ... Doctors

CBC News, May 8, 2009 Two months after cancelling summer bonuses for nurses and health-care staff in Quebec, Health Minister Yves Bolduc has changed his mind, saying the bonuses are needed, but with some strings attached. In a meeting with the nurses Friday morning, Bolduc said nurses will have to work a minimum number of hours to get the bonuses. For the past eight years the government has been paying bonuses to nurses and other health-care workers to encourage them to work extra hours during the summer. ... Québec

Provincial government is looking for ways to ease workload, health minister says. Montréal Gazette, November 5, 2008 Nurses in Quebec must get used to the hard reality of mandatory overtime for the foreseeable future, provincial Health Minister Yves Bolduc warned yesterday. "If it's a choice between a rupture of service (to patients) or mandatory overtime, I'll choose not to have a rupture of service," he told reporters in Montreal after addressing the Quebec Order of Nurses' annual convention. Bolduc alluded briefly to the problem of mandatory overtime in his speech. ... Get

Province's 'old bureaucratic machine' under fire over departing personnel. Montréal Gazette, November 4, 2008 With the province facing an increasingly severe shortfall of hospital nurses, it's time to staunch the bleeding of the profession, the head of the Quebec Order of Nurses said yesterday. Gyslaine Desrosiers, newly elected to her ninth mandate as the head the professional order representing nurses, yesterday called the provincial health department an old bureaucratic machine. ... Staunch