The 11 nursing students who graduated from Yukon College this month are all employed and “even more useful now,” said Brenda Wale, spokesperson for Community Services.
Thanks to updated regulations in Yukon’s health-care system, licensed practical nurses can perform a full range of medical tasks.
“Whenever you’re in hospital, it will be LPNs looking after you almost entirely because they can do so many more of the day-to-day services that are required,” said Wale.
These new tasks include intravenous injections and adult health assessment, said Sue Stark, co-ordinator for the Practical Nurse Program at Yukon College.
Yukoners will notice an improvement in treatment, said Fiona Charbonneau, registrar for Community Services.
“I think using LPNs to their full scope of practice is going to improve patient care because it’s going to ensure more timely care and it’s going to assist in making health-care delivery more cost-effective.”
The 83 LPNs who are already registered in the territory have three years to complete the new courses, which they must pay for themselves. With the 11 new graduates, Yukon has 94 LPNs.
Contact Larissa Robyn Johnston at larissaj@yukon-news.com