Saskatchewan’s patients deserve more. The end of 2023 was brutal. Saskatoon’s emergency departments dominated the news, but they were not alone.
Registered nurses shared heartbreaking stories of loss in waiting rooms, codes being called in hallways, and elderly patients sinking into delirium and losing mobility in emergency rooms while spending as long as seven full days waiting for beds in overcrowded wards.
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Fire code violations due to overcrowding, critical care bypasses at hospitals around the province, and understaffed and overcrowded emergency rooms are regular signs of this crisis.
A group of five registered nurses gathered anonymous quotes from their colleagues on working conditions and read them aloud at a rally last November outside St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon.
“I am the nurse who cries on the way home from work, who sits on my couch after a shift and replays the horrors I have witnessed all day,” said a tearful nurse in one of the quotes. “Who knows lives and (nursing) licences are in danger every single shift due to a lack of staffing, lack of beds and lack of resources.”
This past fall has seen instances when surgeries couldn’t be performed or had to be temporarily halted as a direct result of registered nurse shortages and lack of bed capacity. Intensive care beds have also been temporarily closed at hospitals due to staffing challenges.
The concept of a bypass was, up until just recently, mostly associated with rural areas. This is no longer the case. Where do patients go when our biggest facilities are saying, “Not today. Not now”?
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Protecting the safety, dignity and privacy of patients is becoming untenable. Intensive nursing care and sensitive examinations should not be happening in hallways and waiting rooms, or behind a blanket held up as a barrier.
The biggest driver of these challenges has been staff shortages, particularly registered nurses. Shortages push registered nurses to work more and more overtime, with some working 16 to 24 hours continuously.
A new study from the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions confirmed excessive hours of continuous work have a profound impact on nurse fatigue. Research shows that fatigue poses long-term risks such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.
Moreover, evidence strongly links fatigue to health-care safety incidents. Canadian data shows that one in 17 hospital stays now involves at least one harmful event.
Registered nurses need legislation on consecutive hours that mirrors other safety-sensitive industries such as pilots who can only fly a maximum of 13 hours. Relying on overtime or spending over $40 million annually on private nurse agencies are only band-aids on gaping wounds.
Fixing the nursing shortage is about creating environments where nurses and patients can thrive.
Nurse-led solutions like minimum registered nurse-to-patient ratios offer double-fold success: safe staffing improves patient safety and addresses the top reason nurses look for the exit sign — insufficient staffing. We have the funding available.
Months have passed since the federal government announced increases to the Canada Health Transfer to address critical health-care needs. Provinces should use this money to implement evidence-based initiatives that would improve working conditions, increase retention and create sustainable recruitment.
Saskatchewan’s registered nurses have been calling for a nursing task force to jointly develop this plan, and 2024 offers a fresh opportunity for our government to act on these pleas for help. If the state of health care at the end of last year tells us anything, it’s that time is no longer on our side.
Tracy Zambory is president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, and Linda Silas is president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.
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Opinion: Sask. nurses need protection from overwork for safety's sake
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07.02.2024
Saskatchewan’s patients deserve more. The end of 2023 was brutal. Saskatoon’s emergency departments dominated the news, but they were not alone.
Registered nurses shared heartbreaking stories of loss in waiting rooms, codes being called in hallways, and elderly patients sinking into delirium and losing mobility in emergency rooms while spending as long as seven full days waiting for beds in overcrowded wards.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don't have an account? Create Account
Fire code violations due to overcrowding, critical care bypasses at hospitals around the province, and understaffed and overcrowded emergency rooms are regular signs of this crisis.
A group of five registered nurses gathered anonymous quotes from their colleagues on working conditions and read them aloud at a rally last November outside St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon.
“I am the nurse who cries on the way home from work, who sits on my couch after a shift and replays the horrors I have witnessed all day,” said a tearful nurse in one of the quotes. “Who knows lives and (nursing) licences are in danger every single shift due to a lack of staffing, lack of beds and lack of........
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