Healthcare workers and healthcare organizations say the high rate of burnout and staff shortages in hospitals across the country has become “endemic” – and they are urging the federal government to sit down with provinces and territories to find solutions.
The number of vacancies among health care practitioners – mostly in hospitals – increased by almost 92 percent between September and December 2021 compared to the same period before the pandemic in 2019, according to Statistics Canada.
Paul-Émile Cloutier is the CEO of HealthCareCAN, an organization that represents healthcare organizations and hospitals. He said the situation was deteriorating, leading to longer waiting times and delays in operations.
“The system bleeds people at all levels and more [intensive care unit] or an emergency, it’s on the other side, “said Clottie.” It’s like somnambulism in a catastrophe. “
Cloutier said there are 13 different health systems in provinces and territories across the country and there is no central body that collects and analyzes data. His organization wants to see a new national body that can tackle capacity problems and tackle the problem of job vacancies caused by burnout.
Dr Catherine Smart, president of the Canadian Medical Association, told CBC Power & Politics host David Cochrane on Friday that she had recently met with Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos to discuss the problems facing Canadian healthcare. system.
“I think what we need is federal leadership to really recognize these challenges that we see in the health care system that are not unique to a province or territory,” she said. “We need this leadership to really identify the key elements we need to act on, and we need funding to solve some of these problems.”
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“When people are more outraged by waiting 4 hours at airport security than 3 years to change their hips, we’ve lost track of what’s important.” CMA President Dr Catherine Smart says the challenges facing the health care system must be at the top of Canadian minds.
Duclos announced in March that the federal government would give $ 2 billion to provinces and territories to help clear the health care backlog created by years of pandemic crisis.
Health Canada spokeswoman Anne Génier said the government was taking other steps to reduce the backlog in the health system and tackle the workforce.
In a statement published to CBC News, she stated a commitment of $ 140 million in the federal budget to support the online portal Wellness Together Canada. The portal provides free and confidential tools and services for mental health and substance abuse to front-line workers and makes legislative changes designed to protect workplaces from threats, violence and harassment.
“A safe working environment is crucial to help retain health workers,” Génier said in a statement.
Génier noted that the budget also provides $ 115 million for five years and $ 30 million each year thereafter, to expand a program that recognizes foreign health data and enables overseas health professionals to work in Canada. Millions more dollars have been earmarked to deal with the supply and retention of health workers in rural and remote Canadian communities, she said.
But Clottie and Smart said Ottawa needed to do more.
“There should be a first meeting of health ministers in partnership with some of the health partners,” Clutier said. “I think this can be really useful, because I think the provinces understand that there is a big problem in the province.
Ontario Emergency Medicine Dr. Carrie Sampsel resigned in December 2021 after 15 years in office. She said she feared her workplace was no longer safe for her or her patients.
Sampsel said he had to treat patients in their vehicles in the parking lot and hospital corridors because the emergency room was overcrowded and there were no free beds.
“We’re doing everything because it’s the right thing to do,” Sampsel said, adding that he did not want to name his former hospital out of concern about the reaction. “That’s what we’re trained to do.”
Dr. Carrie Sampsel, a doctor in the Ontario Emergency Department, resigned in December 2021 after 15 years in office. She said she feared her workplace was no longer safe for her and her patients. (Michelle Wahlberg / Sent)
Sampsel said that when the work climate began to affect her mental health, she felt she had to retire.
“I don’t do the job I love anymore because it actually killed me,” she said.
Sampsel said these problems existed long before COVID arrived, although the pandemic has helped make them worse.
“COVID is putting pressure on other parts of the system, so now everyone feels like [emergency] department, “she says.
She said her former department now has a dozen full-time doctors and most of her colleagues complain of burnout.
“People are leaving for self-preservation. The problem is not in the work, but in the circumstances,” she said.
Broken point
HealthCareCAN is now asking the federal government for more funding to improve the workplace and work-life balance, as well as additional mental health services for staff.
“I think what they need to do now is sit down with the provinces and have a really frank discussion about how to move forward on health human resources,” Clutier said.
Daniel Chaput, a 12-year-old nurse in the Ontario Intensive Care Unit, said she was diagnosed during the pandemic with compassion fatigue, clinical burnout and generalized anxiety disorder.
“Since I was a nurse, we’ve had a shortage of staff,” she said.
Daniel Chaput, a 12-year-old nurse in the Ontario Intensive Care Unit, said she was diagnosed during the pandemic with compassion fatigue, clinical burnout and generalized anxiety disorder. (Submitted by Daniel Chaput)
Chaput calculated that at one point the patient-to-nurse ratio in the hospital was 8: 1. She said the moment of refraction came when she realized she could no longer provide the care she thought patients deserved due to circumstances beyond her control.
“I’ve never seen so much bad about how many people leave,” she said.
Chaput said he accepted fewer shifts at the hospital to work on his mental health. “It’s very difficult to think about it because breastfeeding is everything I’ve ever wanted to do,” she said.
“I grieve the loss of a profession I once knew and work to separate my identity from my job.”
Chaput said she has started a business in support of health workers and others experiencing burnout and anxiety in the workplace.
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