The Hospital Authority has vowed to exempt nurses who are 32 weeks pregnant for working night shifts, but some believe it should be lowered to 28 weeks.
EMILY TSANG AND ELIZABETH CHEUNG
UPDATED : Monday, 18 April, 2016, 8:05pm
John Leong Chi-yan, chairman of the Hospital Authority. Photo: SCMP
Public hospitals have promised to soon offer special arrangements for pregnant nurses following the collapse of a nurse who was eight months into her pregnancy during a night shift, according to the chairman of the Hospital Authority.
The nurse was still in a critical condition in intensive care on Monday after suffering a stroke during her overnight work at Queen Mary Hospital, said a hospital source. It is understood she had underlying illness.
But while the Hospital Authority suggested exemption from night shifts should be given to nurses from 32 weeks into their pregnancy, obstetricians and a staff union believed the cut-off should be lowered to 28 weeks.
Hospital Authority chairman John Leong Chi-yan said there are guidelines in place allowing nurses who are 28 weeks pregnant to be exempt from night shifts, but not all hospitals offer the same arrangement.
“Different hospitals should be consistent with the arrangement, such as exempting nurses with 32 weeks from working at night,” he said. “Such exemptions should not implemented with rigidity. If the staff felt it was too hard, it could be handled with flexibility.”
He said there were staff who may prefer the night shift or felt they could handle it.
But Joseph Lee Kok-long, chairman of the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff, said the authority should explain why 32 weeks was set as the cut-off, instead of 28 weeks.
Private obstetrician Dr Kun Ka-yan also suggested it should be set at 28 weeks, as a baby’s development could be affected if a mother-to-be has insufficient sleep and a poor appetite due to overwork.
Lee added the guidelines should not be allowed to be too flexible, or management might abuse them when there was insufficient staffing levels.
The incident of the nurse who suffered the stroke came to light on a Facebook page frequented by public hospital staff. The person who posted the information suggested the pregnant nurse was overworked as she was working on the ward alone.
Lee said the association had heard of three cases of pregnant nurses feeling unwell during work in the past.
At present, public hospitals are short around 700 nurses and 250 doctors.
Medics complained of working overtime as the hospitals struggle to cope with the unprecedented demand this winter amid the flu season and prolonged coldness, which only began to ease this month.
The association said the ratio of nurses per patient at public hospitals was 1 to 11 on average , and it could get to as high as 1 to 23 in some wards at night - far exceeding the standard of ratio of 1 to 6 in some developed countries.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1936961/debate-over-night-shift-exemption-pregnant-nurses
