assistant de soins en gérontologie

infirmier auxiliaire autorisé

préposé aux soins personnels

technicien de laboratoire medical

cuisinier

Saskatchewan Health Authority

Working for years I have seen to go from a disciplined organization to a Chaotic state. Sounds exaggerated but after over 30 years and many departments I have noticed that Management and staff Stress levels are high everywhere.  Management continues to extract as much time out of staff as they can causing some departments to get their sick time up, They then punish anyone who takes sick time. Oh BTW they do not cover sick notes which you need after the 3rd day, You will absorb the 10 to 30 $ yourself , funny thing is YOU don't need then note THEY do..Management secretly encourages the staff by making key members push the others members to start 5 to 15 minutes early (no pay and not covered by WCB if you injure yourself ) and your peers will rag on you if you don't keep up. The union care less about this and is more interested
collecting their dues than supporting and fighting for causes. The staff treat the union accordingly by not going to their meetings that extends back since a bad contract negotiation back in the 90s. All in all this has caused the employees to distrust management , union and staff alike . Back in the 90s upward motivation was possible and made the job nice as you could move to better jobs , But sadly around 2010 the policy stopped and there is a preference to hire from the outside. over top of internal employees. Overall I felt my job was important and the money and benefits good but do not make this place your life long career. Xmas bonus equals nothing but Xmas supper IF you work Xmas day and if you are required service you will only get every second Xmas off . As well creative bookkeeping in which I left a higher paying job and took a lower paying job and I was owed money from overtime on the old job  , I was payed at the new job rate which devalued my overtime pay to way less than I was owed or even forcing me to take vacation time so I didn't use sick time. Oh by the way THE OFFICIAL BIG COMPANY POLICY is this . Do not under any circumstance ever discuss expose or talk to the press about anything that would criticize the district by punishment of termination. Kids do yourself a favour, try to find a job in the private sector, You will be treated better and possibly get better benefits, don't be a lifer here.

Lot's of beautiful posters talking about how much care about staff but in my opinion it's punitive, regressive, top-down, unappreciative, unsafe, not evidenced-based, and overall toxic. One of the worst nursing environments I've worked in. To add insult to injury the extended care program started drop-down rotating rosters. Expected to work all lines: days, evenings, nights switching every three weeks. There is little respect for work-life balance or the other life commitments staff have: children, other businesses, etc. Working relief is hard for most since have to be available to be pre-booked every 72 hrs. To get approved for leaves, vacations, etc is challenging and often leads to conflict. Resistant to accommodate disabled staff. Promotes staff conflict by not dealing with issues at the lowest level and encouraging staff to write each other up. I do not feel they adhere to most of their Accreditation Standards. They have written policies but most managers do not follow them. The ones that try to be progressive usually leave. I went through 7 managers in about 10 yrs. The turnover is very high. They often do not replace staff even though workloads are high with normal staffing levels. Workplace injuries are high as is the amount of violence that management do not deal with and most often blame staff for their approach. The training is ineffective. Many staff complain about reprisal for reporting health and safety concerns. The Occupational Health Committee does not address most incidents. I could write a lot more. The only positive I can think of it's in the Wascana Park grounds. But you will feel you need to get out there on your breaks....if you feel you can safely take one. Your union 
 executive representation is poor too which is one big reason this employer likely is so negative. they are not held accountable. Again, the above are all my subjective opinion and observations. Feel free to ask any other healthcare worker in direct patient care areas.

  RN since 1995, in SK 2001 - present. Very high workload in all RN positions.  Managers on some units helpful and supportive.. on others not so much.  
Senior management is too busy fixing emergencies and dealing with an overloaded system to really care about the frontline staff.  There were many problems (short-staffed,  not enough beds, growing patient acuity, base hospitals in poor condition/ maintenance) before covid; the pandemic just blew the seams apart.  

  Some units can be a great place to learn and thrive. It's finding one that has supportive unit management and staff that is enabled to help new members integrate and grow.  

  Unit managers now have an attached HR Business Partner that performs some of the functions a manager used to do.  This can lead to managers passing off difficult decisions (vacation/ leaves denied, staffing deficiencies not filled, discipline  actions) and then passing the blame when staff raise concerns. The business partners are NOT supportive of RNs' concerns in any way.  

 The online staffing system is problematic as well. SHA got rid of all the unit staffing clerks a few years back (Lean had a lot to do with that). In some units staff requests are frequently initially denied due to the 'program' not allowing it. In actuality it's certain managers just not approving requests and then waiting for grievances to accumulate before approving a bunch at once.  Again, a way to deflect difficult decisions..... Units with decent managers usually have leave requests approved by the next day. 

 SHAs' centralized management system and use of Lean processes does little to help point-of-care staff in accomplishing their daily tasks. Lower-level management does the best they can but are hamstrung by a system that has been chronically mismanaged at a provincial level for years. 


I really enjoy my co-workers and supervisors, everyone is always ready and willing to help you with something you don't understand. 
You really do need good shoes for this job because I walked an average of 9 miles a day at the Hospital. 
There are a lot of rules, and regulations you need to follow, but that's why we're getting paid well for this job. 
I didn't expect to love it as much as I did going in, I really tried to connect and make a difference with the patients, by joking around with them because I knew none of them really wanted to be there. 
Overall, if I move back to Prince Albert, my job is still waiting for me, and I am grateful my supervisor brought up "educational leave" when I went to hand in my 2 weeks notice. 

Negatives experiences were mostly with nurses. 
-Nurses ignoring senile patients while aprox 12 of them gather and loudly gossip at the nurses station
-A nurse telling my union on me for drinking water (she claimed I drank from a cup and watched me serve it to a patient)
-Nurses will leave dirty trays on top of the retrieval cart when we all know you're not supposed to have anything on the top of it
-Nurses visibly upset with me because they did not communicate a patients diet change in time and I don't have the correct diet/meal on my cart  
-Nurses talking down to me because they think Diabetes or anaphylactic shock are beyond my brain capacity

I currently work at Royal University Hospital. I have worked at all three hospitals in Saskatoon. I tried many different departments by internal transfer. All departments I worked in suffer from poor management, rampant bullying, gossip, discrimination and have rampant verbal abuse between employees. People with health issues (like heart conditions, thyroid, diabetes, anxiety, depression, hernia, shoulder injuries, cancer, female reproductive organ surgeries) who have no choice but to use sick time when they are having major problems are treated horribly for being sick. The union (SEIU WEST) used to be strong about 15 years ago but is now weak, lazy and useless. They will not help you. The employer uses human resources to bully employees when they feel like it. If you report an incident in the workplace that needs to be rectified you are told you are lying/over reacting/ just like to cause problems. Everyone in each department was very stressed every day due to lack of good working conditions. Overall all that I have learned in working for the saskatchewan health authority is that you are a worthless number, don't ever get sick and even though it is a horrible place you had better not say anything about it to help improve it.

On a daily basis, I manage calendars, respond to emails, develop and/or format correspondence, powerpoint presentations and build/populate excel documents for 3 directors. I assist reception with questions and concerns from staff and clients. I am able to assist the Site Leader with my years of experience and knowledge of the facility. I have learned how to problem-solve and if I don't know the answer, I know who to go to. I enjoy the teamwork and camaraderie with direct reports, peers, staff in other departments, visitors and clients. Assisting clients who are upset or angry is the most challenging but can be rewarding when you have helped to resolve an issue. I enjoy my work, the people I support and the staff and clients I work with. I go home satisfied that I put in a good day's work and wake up looking forward to the day ahead. I am proud that people come into our office because they are comfortable, feel welcome and know that we will do our best to help them.

I was often compared to others who have had more experience than I. The supervisor did not understand how to deal with someone with a disability and its seemed like they couldn't comprehend that people won't always match each others speed or skills. Some people need more time with more supports instead of ultimatums and judgements. I also witnessed favouritism.
I also found that ergonomics wasn't as important to my supervisor. I felt like I was rushed when I was setting up the environment for my safety and well being as well as the patient. I had to lower and raise beds for my back which slowed me down a bit and was given a stern talking to regarding my speed. The supervisor was never there to witness any of the SOPs (standard of procedures) of workers including myself. What was said to her in person was how she understood things to be and instead of checking on the situations herself she based her actions on other's words.

On the other hand, the job can be rewarding. Everyday I learned something about the human body and our health care system.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Autonomy& helping elderly& disabled clients 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Safety of yourself& clients( eg no lights turned on in the front of the house,or no shovelled walk or ice,not knowing the client or area.)

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
In Clients home,so the client could be beliggerant or friendly..A mixed bag ,really

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Go to the office ( with coworkers) for 15 mins& review your clients& see who has *FREE TIME* for more work to cover the 3-5 *SICK* calls daily.Reading new clients files before 645
Then drive to clients from 645-7 to get 10 clients ready for their day including personal care ,medication,cooking,cleaning,Laundry,yard work,& daily tasks that clients can't do..Then ending your day ,by dropping off Paperwork of your day,at 245-3.
630-3 ( We would mostly get done by 320,then take an extra break of 15 mins ,to make up for the time owed to us the day before)

HARD WORK MENTALLY& PHYSICALLY!!

I am doing job which is naturally stressful and difficult to maintain work and life balance in long term. Management was and is always an issue because they promote the culture of discrimination and favouritism. They knew how to twist the rules and union always favours employer or its representatives. I think the hardest part is to survive in a negative and hostile culture. The best part is, you can help your patients and most of the time fix their health problems for which they came to our department. The smile on their faces in the morning makes your day. 

The salary is ridiculous. The management is a joke. They don’t care about staff at all. They dump extra work on you then get mad if morning rounds isn’t finished quickly when clearly more staff is needed. When people call in sick all the time then others are left scrambling to pick up the slack. Management doesn’t seem to care that staff is buckling under the pressure of having too much to do. And when some staff me members are on accommodations and can’t help out they sit in the back and send the rest of us to go do all the stats all day long. Which makes zero sense and makes for a very long and stressful day. After a hard 8 hour shift you may be hit with mandating with is the supervisor basically forcing you to do another 8 hr shift no doubt because someone called in sick for their shift. This place sucks and is so stressful. I regret ever working there.
Not the mention the ton of gossiping. I mean, it is to be expected but it’s so bad! run!

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