3 axed Filipino nurses seek reinstatement in Canadian health facility

MANILA, Philippines - Three recently sacked Filipino nurses on Friday said that they wish to seek reinstatement in a Canadian health facility, an online report said. Three of the five Filipino nurses fired by the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region (RQHR) on Friday said that they are hoping they can win reinstatement through the union grievance procedure, a report on Canada.com said. "If we believe the collective agreement has been violated we file a grievance or if we feel the discipline is harsher than what may be appropriate we would file a grievance. I can't speak to specific instances,'" said Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) President Rosalee Longmoore. The Filipino nurses lost their jobs between June and September because they reportedly failed "to meet the region's expectations." Moreover, if they don't get their jobs back before their one-year visas or work permits expire, they will be deported. Two of the sacked nurses have already settled. Debbie Beaton, the region's director of strategic human resources planning and development, said in the report that she couldn't discuss the specifics of the issue at hand in order to protect the privacy of the nurses. "As an employer our first obligation is to patient safety and quality care and that is what drives our decision making. So you can be assured that when we dismiss an employee it is for a good reason," she said. Filipino nurses are apparently given job offers if they can pass the Canadian Registered Nurses Exam and the region's probationary period. If one of those two is not met, then the job offer is terminated and the nurses are sent home. However, the nurses claim that as stated in the contract, the RQHR also has a responsibility to follow disciplinary procedures, effectively providing written warnings to a worker and thereafter rectify or correct any problems. An example is the case of pediatrics nurse Michelle Arches who was assigned to the Pasqua Hospital orthopedics unit when she arrived there in April. She was given an orientation on April 15, started working on May 20, and was fired August 7. "The reason for my termination was 'unsuitability' (to work in the unit). That's a broad term but that is the term they used," she said. Arches said that her job performance wasn't "sterling," but also said that she never received any warning that her job was in trouble. She said that if the region wasn't happy with her performance, she should have been informed about it. Likewise, veteran nurse Joe Guillergan said he was suspended and later fired on October 27 for professional misconduct and breach of patient confidentiality. He said his offense was calling the family of a young patient whom he wanted to find out the condition after being discharged. However, the child's mother complained to the health region about the call. "It's a common practice in the Philippines to make follow-up calls to see how a patient is doing," he said. In the Canadian province Saskatchewan, that phone call was a violation of the Health Information Protection Act (HIPA) which protects the confidential health information of a patient. Guillergan said the problem was that he was unfamiliar with the HIPA and the provincial nurse's code of ethics. However, Beaton said that during the nurses' seven week orientation, a four-hour training session on the code of ethics and both the health region and the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association (SRNA) reinforced the need to protect patient confidentiality. The nurses were also reportedly required to sign a confidentiality agreement. Guillergan said that adapting to a new culture and work place doesn't happen "with the snap of the fingers." "It takes time really,'" he said. Meanwhile, Beaton assured aspiring Filipino nurses that the RQHR will continue to recruit from the Philippines. "They provide high-quality care to our patients and our system is enriched by their presence," she said. The RQHR director also said that Filipinos are "valued members" of the nursing profession who enrich their multicultural society. "Absolutely we will continue to develop our relationships with the Filipino government and we will continue to use the country as a source for our health-care system," she said. In addition, Dawn Martin, Canada's Health Ministry director of planning and provincial recruitment projects, said it's important to view the number of fired nurses "in context." "We have 170 Filipino nurses who have arrived in the province and we're talking about five (who have been terminated)," she said. "We need to be mindful of the context and keep an eye on what's happening ... Public safety is paramount and the region is doing its due diligence in managing it," said Martin. The report said that about 400 Filipino nurses have been offered positions in Saskatchewan over the past year. "We think and I believe that most of our employers think that this has been a very successful initiative so far. We can't expect that 100 per cent of these nurses are going to be successful. We can't even expect that of our Canadian grads," she said. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV