Mental wellness nurse urges P.E.I. to allow for psychiatric nurses

“I was just lonely for household. I believed there would be a task there,” he explained.

But what he uncovered was that RPNs usually are not included beneath the mandate of the Higher education of Registered Nurses of P.E.I. (CRNPEI), which is only allowed to sign-up RNs and nurse practitioners (NPs) in the province.

Without the need of a way to be registered below, Collicutt wasn’t qualified for any nursing work.

Collicutt said he has most of the training that a registered nurse acquires, except pediatrics and maternity. 

Postings for mental well being similar jobs on P.E.I. don’t seem to be to figure out his qualifications as an RPN either, he explained.

He’s used for various jobs on the Island but reported he is been informed he doesn’t qualify, as he would not tumble into the types of professions regulated on P.E.I., which includes psychiatrists, psychologists, RNs, NPs, residential treatment workers and social staff.

Unable to obtain do the job in the Atlantic region, Collicutt is splitting his time involving his property with his spouse in Bloomfield, P.E.I., and performing at a health centre in Baker Lake, Nunavut, a community of about 2,000.

He’s on his 3rd two-month contract there. Collicutt’s trip north requires two days, traveling from Charlottetown to Montreal to Ottawa to Winnipeg, north to Rankin Inlet right before eventually landing in Baker Lake.

“The shell out is good but I pass up my family members. I skip my spouse. I miss out on my mom and dad who are very elderly,” he said.

His moms and dads reside in Alberton, and he would like to be far more available to assistance them out.

Occupation shift to mental wellbeing

Soon after a couple of many years fishing and farming on P.E.I. he and his spouse moved to Alberta in 2006 for a fresh new commence. There Collicutt worked as a well being aide, then attended Ponoka College, graduating as an RPN in 2014.

His schooling centered on psychological health and his place is frequently referred to as a mental health nurse.

“I took psychological health and fitness simply because I was really attracted to it. And I want to assist people today,” he reported.

At the health centre in Baker Lake, he counsels those struggling with melancholy, anxiety, grief, and he is included with suicide intervention and instructing coping competencies. He also consults with psychiatrists on prescription drugs for shoppers and is a useful resource for the nearby school and for the RCMP.

“If they require guidance I can be there in 5 minutes,” he mentioned.

RPNs, he mentioned, look at stabilizing those struggling with psychological health and fitness and finding them again into the local community.

“It really is a acquire-get circumstance. But you really have to know what you are dealing with and what to anticipate as to how the mentally ill can act. I have all this and I would like to be ready to aid persons on P.E.I.,” stated Collicutt.

The pandemic has deepened the psychological wellness struggles, like the clients he operates with in Baker Lake.

“We experienced fairly a couple suicides up below at the start off of the 12 months,” he explained, including that in a neighborhood of 2,000, everybody appears to have a relative, friend or neighbour afflicted.

‘Very frustrating’

Collicutt said he’s contacted every person he could imagine of on P.E.I. for aid.

P.E.I. could be a leader … pushing out RPNs for the rest of the Maritimes.— Dana Collicutt

“I have talked to the minister of health. I talked to the choosing board and I talked to the nurses’ union,” he said. “I’ve got no serious answers except at this time it is really not possible.

“That’s just pretty frustrating.”

Correct now, RPNs are regarded in all provinces and territories west of Ontario. There are more than 6,000 in Canada.

“I am presuming because Ontario would not have it, the eastern provinces are not heading to shift right before then, which is a disgrace. You know P.E.I. could be a chief in the eastern provinces, and they could be pushing out RPNs for the rest of the Maritimes,” he stated.

He claimed if improve takes place to enable RPNs to perform in P.E.I., it most likely is not going to be right before he retires in the next 5 decades or so. But he hopes P.E.I. does go in this route.

But with professional medical staff members working with a lot more and more sufferers struggling with mental health, he hopes P.E.I. does understand the job. 

A spokesperson for the College or university of Registered Nurses of P.E.I. instructed CBC while RPNs usually are not included by its mandate, if the province asked the faculty to appear at which include them, it would.

In an electronic mail to CBC News, Barbara Lowe, CEO of the Canadian Registered Psychiatric Nurse Association, stated her group programs to start a feasibility study next thirty day period to glimpse at introducing RPNs to the Maritime provinces, which include examining regulation, employment and education and learning.

RPNs are 1 of the three regulated nursing professions in Canada, but keep on being independent from RNs, explained the P.E.I. Department of Health and Wellness in a assertion.

“The P.E.I. federal government is on the lookout to develop psychological wellbeing products and services and the Section of Overall health and Wellness and [Health PEI], are checking out regardless of whether RPNs may stand for a new source of health-treatment vendors for psychological overall health,” it mentioned.

All wellness experts doing work for Well being PEI have to belong to a bargaining device and be registered with their licensing entire body to practise in the province, said a assertion from Wellbeing PEI. 

Extra from CBC P.E.I.