A new North West College program looks to both fill a need and retain staff in the Battlefords, which a college spokesperson calls “the mental health centre for the province.”
The new psychiatric nursing program is a two-and-a-half year diploma program, in which students learn via classes, labs and practicums.
Once graduated, students will be eligible to write the Canadian Registered Psychiatric Nurses exam, register with the Registered Psychiatric Nurses Association of Saskatchewan and apply for designation as a registered psychiatric nurse, according to a North West College press release.
North West College Manager of Corporate Services Victoria Lamb Drover said one of the reasons the program is in the Battlefords is because of Saskatchewan Hospital and its increased number of beds.
Training for such a program took place only in Regina before the North West College program. Some students did second and third year work in North Battleford, but most students would return to work in Regina, while few stayed and got jobs in the Battlefords.
Since North West College announced the new program in January, interest has been high. The 16 seats are filled, and there’s a waiting list.
Lamb Drover said all seven semesters cost around $11,000, and said the program is helpful for those living nearby who don’t have the means “to uproot their lives and move to a different centre for education.”
Marion Palidwor is a registered psychiatric nurse who has sat on the Registered Psychiatric Nursing Association of Saskatchewan board for many years.
Palidwor said a registered psychiatric nurse can do most of what registered nurses can do, although the former job “consists of working with people who have issues with mental health,” and other tasks including helping them find housing and securing medications.
A psychiatric nursing program was previously run out of the old Saskatchewan Hospital, and “there are people who are still working who graduated” from that program, Palidwor said.
But many RPNs, Palidwor said, are 50 and older, and “heading for retirement in the next few years.”
She said the nursing association board has pushed for more seats for years, but Palidwor said, regarding the North West College program, “I don't know if it’s going to be enough to stop the dam when all of us start retiring.”
While she said she’s unsure if there’s been an increase in patients, mental health is now a more widely discussed topic than it has been previously.
“Due to more publicity, more people are actually seeking help, whereas before they hid it or went into other means to try and get better,” Palidwor said.
“Everybody in the world, it doesn’t matter if you think you’re normal or not, [is] at some point going to require mental health assistance.”
The provincial government and the hospital made headlines leading up to and after the hospital was completed, but Palidwor said the need for a new facility has “been an ongoing issue for decades.”
Palidwor added health is expensive no matter who pays for it.
