Nurse morale is at its lowest and a dying man having his last rites read in a hallway were but some of the horror stories shared by the B.C. Nurses' Union last week.
The nurses' union held a press conference On Oct. 31 about the negative impact a recent population boom in the Tri-Cities is having on other hospitals in the region. The boom is leading to chronic congestion in emergency rooms at Royal Columbian Hospital and Eagle Ridge Hospital.
Jan Downes-Springer, Royal Columbian Hospital nurse steward coordinator, said it’s dire times in her hospital's emergency room.
"The nurses in the emergency unit at Royal Columbian Hospital have recently shared with me that chronic congestion is the dominant theme amongst them," she said. "Chronic congestion has created a feeling of helplessness from all the nursing staff."
The congestion is taking a "profound" negative toll on not only nurses' professional lives, but their personal lives, as well, according to Downes-Springer.
"Nurses are exhausted and stressed from the effect of chronic congestion," she said. "Together, this is a significant threat to the deliverance of safe, quality patient care and, of course, safety of the nurses delivering that care."
Downes-Springer said emergency room congestion must be addressed and made a top priority to fix at Royal Columbian.
She referenced a recent situation where two ventilated patients had to share a nurse, which does not meet standard care as each patient should have had their own nurse.
"This is totally unacceptable," Downes-Springer said. "It's a threat to quality patient care and ... a threat to the professional standards to all of the nurses involved."
In response to the charges made by the union, Erin Labbe, Fraser Health spokesperson, said the authority understands the nurses’ plight.
“Fraser Health recognizes the incredible hard work, commitment and compassion of our nurses,” Labbe said. “Nurses deliver exceptional health care to patients, clients and residents across Fraser Health every day.”
Labbe said the authority has hired more than 1,000 nurses across the region over the past three years, and invested more than $10 million in specialty education for hundreds of nurses over same period.
“In the past year, we have implemented a number of strategies to meet demand for services,” Labbe added.
The services include adding new bed space in the region’s hospitals, formalizing discharge and transition planning to ensure the flow of patients through the system is smooth and setting protocol for overcapacity response, among others.
“Every patient deserves the best quality for care we can provide, at all times,” Labbe said. “There continues to be work to do in order to achieve this – and we are committed to do it.”
– With files from The Tri-Cities NOW
