Knowledge Exchange

Archived Featured Champions

Linda Silas

Move over G.I. Jane, there’s a new action hero in town and her name is Linda Silas! Nurses across Canada consider Ms. Silas an action hero because she’s known to value action above all.

“Sure there is a role for research and information-sharing,” says Ms. Silas, President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU). “But these must be a means to an end, because when all is said and done, there better be more done than said,” she asserts.

As President of Canada’s largest nursing organization representing 158,000 members and associate members in nine provinces, Ms. Silas is dedicated to improving the lives of nurses by undertaking research, putting research into action, and affecting policy through advocacy and alliance-building.

She is also a passionate advocate for improving quality worklife (QWL) in health settings.

“I believe strongly that the health of patients is directly related to the health of the workforce caring for them,” she explains. “We have a collective responsibility as members of the healthcare community to create healthy, safe, empowering, enriching work environments for ourselves and ultimately our patients.”

Under Ms. Silas’ leadership, the CFNU is working to cultivate more and stronger partnerships in support of innovation among employers and employees.

“There is a role for governments, unions, associations and all healthcare stakeholders in realizing the dream of quality worklife for healthcare workers,” she says.

Back in 2005, the CFNU was one of the first 11 national healthcare organizations who partnered to form the Quality Worklife Quality Healthcare Collaborative (QWQHC). Ms. Silas was eager to demonstrate the CFNU’s belief that all health system stakeholders must urgently do more to retain health human resources in healthy and supportive work environments.

“The partnership collaborative approach is one that nurses unions have been cultivating and we know it delivers results,” she notes.

She says the CFNU realized its membership needed to formally come together with other national healthcare organizations to track the impacts of worklife on staff, organization and patient outcomes through a common methodology.

“We need to share best practices and exchange knowledge,” stresses Ms. Silas. “The QWQHC has fostered the environment for this to happen and we are proud to be part of it.”

For its part, the CFNU is actively seeking to provide opportunities for both new and experienced nurses to enhance their worklife and create a positive work environment.

The organization is also engaging nurse unions, employers, and government in new collaborative partnerships to address specific and urgent nursing workforce retention and recruitment issues.

In addition, Ms. Silas is spearheading CFNU’s efforts to increase evidence-based research and evaluation on workplace initiatives, as well as expand on the interprofessional approach.

With the support of Health Canada, the CFNU is currently implementing nine pilot projects to improve the worklife of nurses.

The projects involve innovative strategies that bring research to action, including programs that address staffing ratios to enhance quality of patient care, systems to offer support to new nursing graduates, and educational opportunities for professional development.

While the plethora of the CFNU’s QWL-focused initiatives may seem a lot for any leader to handle, Ms. Silas takes it all in stride with a common-sense attitude: “For most of us, we spend at least eight hours of our day at work – shouldn’t it be based on a healthy environment?”

For more information on the CFNU’s QWL efforts, please see the publication “A Renewed Call for Action” at www.cfnu.ca.