Sonnergren finished her report by saying:

Thus, it can be seen that nursing in Saskatchewan is at the crossroads and that plans for the care of the mentally ill are being formulated without consultation with the SPNA. It is my opinion that we can have a part in this planning and make an important contribution in the interests of the public and of our Association, if Provincial Council takes immediate action.⁶⁷

Immediate action included watching the SRNA Ad Hoc Committee with interest. This committee had suggested that a central body be formed to establish standards, and coordinate and supervise all nursing programs closely associated or integrated with the University of Saskatchewan. The central body, it was suggested, should deal with all nursing education programs. Sonnergren, who represented the SPNA at the SRNA meeting when this report was presented in Regina, returned to her own Council with the warning: 'It is imperative that this Council safeguard the interests of our Association in the planning for nursing education in Saskatchewan.'68 She also offered her opinion that 'It is likely that the SRNA will ask us to be represented on their Ad Hoc Committee. I am willing to do so. ⁶⁹

The year 1962 was to be a year of writing briefs and further studying the role of the psychiatric nurse, and attempting to improve training. It was the year that money was allotted for the newly established Prince Albert Branch of the SPNA. It was also the year of province-wide dissension over the introduction of Medicare (on which the SPNA decided not to take a stand). Sonnergren resigned in September and A. Kendall succeeded her. The SPNA was now represented on the Ad Hoc Committee of the SRNA.⁷⁰

At its fifth annual convention at Valley Centre in May 1962, the majority of the recommendations the Research Committee made concerning the future of the SPNA were turned over to the Education Committee for further study. One recommendation was for the SPNA to sponsor workshops and institutes to increase members' knowledge, abilities and skills. Another was to enhance the SPNA's public relations role since it was felt the public was not aware of the importance of the SPNA or of psychiatric nurses.

But the major recommendations dealt with the training program. When the Education Committee explained the SRNA's proposed 'central body' further to the convention delegates, the response was tentative. They wanted to give it the most careful consideration, not wanting to hinder progress, but not wanting to lose their autonomy either. It was also recommended that the Education Committee look at the inclusion in the curriculum of a unit on community psychiatric nursing.⁷¹

The Education Committee's efforts became entirely focused when in 1962 they submitted a brief to the Government of Canada Royal Commission on Health Services. In it they stated that the lack of a sufficient number of adequately trained professional staff was one of the greatest barriers to improved mental health services. The daily average in- patient population in mental hospitals in 1959 and 1960 was 4,480 and the number treated at mental health clinics was 3,224. The total nursing staff in Saskatchewan was 1,900 but of this total, only 600 were psychiatric nurses ' a few in psychiatric wards in the general hospitals but none in community mental health clinics. The brief recommended a minimum nursing staff to patient ratio of 1 to 2.5 as desirable for the Saskatchewan Hospitals at Weyburn and North Battleford, but this ratio had not been achieved.

The brief emphasized the importance of community psychiatry, the training of psychiatric nurses and the need for an extension of training programs. It also included a number of other recommendations: a common system of training psychiatric nurses organized on a national basis; a system of providing public information and mental health education utilizing psychiatric staff including nurses; psychiatric nurses having responsibility for the overall planning of nursing services and nursing education in mental hospitals and other mental health programs; and, provision of bursaries to prepare psychiatric nurses for advanced positions in psychiatric nursing.⁷²

During the first few years of the decade, the SPNA also focussed its attention on other business. It had been successful in gaining a seat on the Board of Examiners. This meant that, for the first time, it was involved in the review of all candidates' papers before the marks were released. It had a plan to offer yearly workshops for members and had accepted a curriculum drawn up by the SRNA which would allow a psychiatric nurse to become a graduate general nurse in fifteen months. It also formed a committee to construct a curriculum which would enable psychiatric nurses to receive training in the field of community health care. The demand for community nurses was increasing as the trend was turning toward the decentralization of psychiatry.⁷³

The SPNA had accomplished much during the first fours years of the decade. But the bombshell was about to be dropped! The Royal Commission on Health Services submitted its report and its conclusions were devastating. It reported that

In the four western provinces'formal programs are offered for the preparation of psychiatric nurses. The graduates of these programs may be licensed according to provincial acts. The programs were instituted to meet the demands for qualified attendants to care for the mentally ill patients in mental institutions. Like the students in the nursing assistant programs, those entering the psychiatric nursing program have qualifications higher than the minimum. We foresee the disappearance of these programs.⁷⁴

In reaction to this, the SPNA committee studying the report relayed to their membership that

Although it seems we are to die a slow death, this may not be the case, for example, between 1961 to 1971 our projections indicate that, as a minimum estimate, around 20,000 nurses must be added to the supply to match the growing need and to replace those leaving the profession, while the maximum estimate suggests that an additional estimate could approach 42,000. Keeping in mind the PN's standard of specialization in psychiatry, the committee feels we will be difficult to replace, even provided that all were in agreement with discontinuation of such a program.⁷⁵

Psychiatric Services officials were not necessarily in agreement with the report's view of the future of the training program for psychiatric nurses. They fully intended to continue accepting applications to the psychiatric schools of nursing, but did announce their intention to shorten the training program.76 To this end, in September 1965 there was a major change in the education of psychiatric nurses. The Psychiatric Services Branch launched a pilot project, increasing instruction in social and medical sciences to bring the total minimum hours to 608. The clinical period was reduced from 120 weeks to 96.⁷⁷ One of the reasons for the change was that considerable effort was being given to reducing the number of dropouts It was also desirable to recognize that psychiatric nurse education programs should be more educationally-oriented and the apprenticeship-type educational scheme be phased out, and that psychiatric nursing educational programs should no longer remain in isolation from the general educational stream for nurses.⁷⁸