Faced with a clear lack of staff, the intensive care unit of the Suroît hospital in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield is collapsing. Intubated patients must be kept in the emergency department because the shortage of places is so critical.
“Currently, people who are supposed to be in intensive care are given ventilators on ventilators in the emergency room. We do not have enough staff in intensive care ”, complains Mélanie Gignac, president of the Union of health professionals of Montérégie-Ouest (FIQ-SPSMO).
“Four years ago the intensive care unit was practically full. There were 35 people on duty. Today I’m 15″, explains Mmyself Gignac. “It’s the apocalypse. We are powerless in the face of the situation,” he adds.
CISSS spokeswoman Jade St-Jean confirms that the situation has been “very precarious in recent days”. “In a department like intensive care, where special skills are needed, the balance is very fragile. We are really in the action to find short-term solutions to support the teams,” she explained to The print.
To resolve the situation, an action plan was presented to the assistance teams on Friday afternoon. “An appeal has been made to encourage nurses who have critical care experience to come and help out voluntarily in this unit,” she said.myself St-Jean. The facility also wants to introduce auxiliary nurses and intensify supervision, support and training of teams.
Employees leave the network
The understaffing in the intensive care unit is flagrant. A minimum of five day nurses is recommended. Only two of them are scheduled for this Saturday, says Mmyself Gignac. The hospital struggles to have enough night care workers.
[Les employés du] the evening shift must always work night shifts and the day shift must also return earlier.
Mélanie Gignac, president of the Union of Care Professionals of Montérégie-Ouest (FIQ-SPSMO)
Mandatory overtime exhausts employees who are still at work, denounces the union president. ” [Vendredi]a nurse who has been in intensive care for several years has taken a position elsewhere in the [CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest] just to leave the ICU. It’s not because she doesn’t like him anymore, it’s just to get out,” she says.
He worries about the next few weeks. “The peak season for colds, flu and gastrointestinal illnesses hasn’t started yet. How many healthcare workers will make it through the winter and not give up? “, she wonders.
Recurring problems
The Suroît hospital faces recurring problems. In September, the union said it was no longer possible to “guarantee the safety of care” in the emergency room due to manpower shortages.
“What is happening is dramatic. We are faced with the sad demonstration that the CISSS management is no longer able to guarantee the safe care that the population has a right to expect,” said the union’s interim president, Vanessa Léger.
In October, the emergency room had to temporarily close its doors to less urgent cases and reroute ambulances to a nearby hospital.
With the collaboration of Henri Ouellette-Vézina and Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel, The print
