Joanne Dickie works as a LPN at Lion's Gate Hospital in North Vancouver and she's a fantastic role model for all other LPNs across the province.

Name: Joanne Dickie

How long have you been an LPN? 27 years

Your city of residency and occupation: North Vancouver BC

Facility and department? Lion's Gate Hospital

Full time, part time or casual? PT 12 hour position

How long at your current position? 26 years

What is your role in your job and what are some typical duties? Duties such as dressing changes, glucometers, and catheterizations have always been in our job description at LGH. What is new for us since our Pharmacology upgrade is medication administration and Dr.'s orders.

Have you had to do any additional eduacation to do what you are doing? Ongoing education has been a part of my practice day one. Whether it be in-services on new products or techniques, one day workshops or something as comprehensive as the pharmacology upgrade.

What are your usual hours of work and do you work overtime? My regular rotation is part time 12 hours. Although I am offered a lot of OT, I rarely work it.

What made you apply for this job? I like the challenge of working in acute care, it allows me to use all of my skills and it is nice to see people get well and return home(sometimes).

Are you part of an interdisciplinary team? If so, what other professions do you work and consult with? Certainly at LGH LPNs are a part of the interdisciplinary team. We work collaboratively with RNs, Dr's, Physio, OT, Respiratory, and many other health care professionals to better the outcomes of our patients.

What do you like most about your job? Least? Probably the thing I like best about my job is the satisfied well cared for patients I have. I find it very rewarding to play a big part in someone's recovery and to have them appreciate it. What is extremely disappointing is the government and employer's lack of recognition and fair wages for the job I do.

What motivates or inspires you in your nursing career? Ironically I was very motivated by the role back the Liberals imposed on me. Since that time, I have become active in pretty much every way I can to see this rectified. Perhaps this is not an appropriate answer to this question, but I have never been more motivated. The role back was a huge "kick in the pants" for me.

Are you a member of any workplace or LPN organizations? If so, what are they and why did you join them? As mentioned I became involved in as many ways as I knew how. I am the 1st Vice President of the LPNABC and was a chapter president before that. I feel that LPNs would benefit greatly to have a body (association) whose only agenda is to advocate for LPNs. Unfortunately when the College took over the insurance coverage for LPNs, the association lost many of its members. It is very difficult to reach out to a group of fairly apathetic angy nurses. Myself included. I don't mean that in an angry way, I think most LPNs would agree that we have been a fairly apathetic group. I have stayed in touch with the College of LPNs over the years and attend all of the AGMs. I have organized rallies in downtown Vancouver on LPN day. These have been attended by LPNs, as well as representatives from the College and the Union. I have served two years on the HEU nursing team and am currently a member of the HEU policy table committee. I will tell you more about that in a few moments. At LGH, I sit on the Professional Practice Committee for Vancouver Coastal Health. I would encourage all LPNs to sit on their PPC's. It is important that LPNs have a say in practice issues and decisions being made about thier practice!

What do you think the role of the LPN will look like in 5 years? I believe the role of the LPN in 5 years will be almost unrecognizable. We are growing so fast in numbers. THere has been a 30% increase in the last 5 years. We are also gaining more and more recognition and respect which will have a very positive effect on our practice. The shortage of RNs is not going to be better in 5 years and so it truly is time for LPNs to shine and sho the world what we are capable of.

Additional comments: I would like to share with LPNs visiting this web site some of the accomplishments we have made and continure to work on at the policy table.

• We have a major project looking at the role and utilization of LPNs and Care Aides across the province. The project will identify current challenges and opportunities for improving LPNs utilization and job satisfaction. The report will be completed in the fall, distributed to the Senior Executives in the HA and LPNs across the province. It will include concrete ideas of what needs to change to better support the work of LPNs and CAs. These ideas will be published in user friendly short information bulletins that go on the HA website, in union newsletters etc. There is also a plan to more actively engage HA managers and our members in these decisions.
• There is 3 million dollars over four years that the Health Authorities must spend on LPN education. We have complete the Operating Room LPN pilot and have money to extend that training so that it is on-going. We also won a higher pay rate for OR LPNs. We are looking at funding for other post basic LPN programs and specialty courses. In addition, LPNs are entitled to apply for short term training dollars under the Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA) Education Fund (the information for this is on HEU's website).
• We have funded more that 150 LPNs to take a basic 24 hour leadership course across the province. This course can now be offered by any college across BC. The college in your community can now get the curriculum from Vancouver Community College (Leslie Stuart; lstuart@vcc.ca) and offer the course in your community. Funding to take the course is available through the FBA Education Fund. We are now lobbying the Nursing Directorate to develop a longer second stage leadership training program for LPNs who want to become LPN educators or operational leaders.
• We are working on a binder that will provide ideas for how LPNs and CAs can have more input on a daily basis at the workplace. the binder, when completed in June, will be available at every worksite and managers will be expected to use these ideas and report their progress to the regions Chief Nursing Officer. The union, in turn, will be able to raise concerns if managers are not providing LPNs and Care Aides with opportunities to have a say about their work.
• We have flexible scheduling pilots in each HA. Flexible scheduling is intended to better respond to staff needs. It begins with a survey of members asking each person to state their scheduling preference and then a schedule is developed that accomodates as many of the the staff's preferences as possible.
• There is also a project looking at how to reduce violence in the workplace that is beginning its work. It will be organized through a provincial and regional OH&S committee.
• We have a separate policy table focusing specifially on staffing and training issues in Residential Care.

We are beginning to gain more recognition and respect for the work LPNs are doing. This work needs to be supported and expanded upon. There is a lot more to do but we are making great headway. I believe this is a time for LPNs to be united and get involved in positive change.

A very big thank you to Michelle for getting this web site going and looking so fantastic. Hopefully it will continue to be used to share information and inform LPNs as to what is happening on their behalf.