Dunedin Hospital's move to have student nurses fill hospital aide shifts has raised concerns about the risk and "burden" it could have on people.
Dunedin Hospital appealed to nursing students earlier this month. Photo: ODT
An email went out to students of the Otago Polytechnic Nursing School shortly before 3pm on 22 July, urgently asking for help.
It went to all students, including third years nearing the end of their studies to first years who were only a semester in.
They had little idea about what they were being asked to do but each shift came with a $200 supermarket voucher.
One nursing student, who was unable to help, spoke to RNZ anonymously and thought their peers deserved more.
"I don't think a $200 Countdown voucher equates to the work, you know - you don't get the penal rates that you get on the weekends."
Paying students with vouchers was also no way to acknowledge a "crisis", they said.
The student worried about the lack of hospital experience first year students have.
"I did kind of wonder if that was appropriate because they're not oriented to the hospital, and they're not kind of aware of everything ... they're only six months into their degree."
Some of those responding to the request may be in the beginning stage of their degree, a nursing student says. Photo: 123RF
The Nurses Organisation strongly criticised the move, with president Anne Daniels saying they only found out about it in a now-deleted TikTok video.
She said bringing in students was an "unfortunate decision" and a "major health and safety risk".
"I have to give them [the students] credit. They stood up because they wanted to help but they didn't know what they were walking into and people that know better should have made a different decision."
She said families should have been brought in to look after their loved ones instead.
But that idea did not sit well with Auckland woman Tiff McLeod, whose 14-year-old daughter, Eva, has been in and out of hospital her entire life.
McLeod said her heart went out to nurses but asking families to plug the gaps would put them under more pressure too.
"You'd be facing lots of burnout and exhaustion because you're already on this high stress, constantly caring for them - even in an emergency situation," she said.
McLeod did not know what the right fix was but said relying on students and families was not it.
"If something goes wrong they have to carry that responsibility and that load and that's a huge thing to have to carry and a huge burden to have."
Working under supervision
Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand's interim national medical director Dr Pete Watson highlighted that those filling the aide gaps were performing non-clinical tasks.
"I just want to reassure everybody that where this is happening it's under the direction and delegation of registered nurses," he said.
"So this is being well-supported and well-supervised where this is occurring."
He indicated similar things were happening at other hospitals, but could not immediately confirm which ones.
A Te Whatu Ora - Southern spokesperson said families were regularly asked to support whānau, but hospitals could not ask them to provide a 24/7 watch of patients.
"We will always require employed health care assistant staff to provide patient watches especially in the evenings and overnight."
The organisation said it did not plan to offer vouchers again and it was working to get some of the students onto casual contracts.