'Can't give people the dignity': Saskatoon nurses sound alarm under extreme overcapacity

Nurses at Saskatoon's two busiest hospitals are once again sounding the alarm about severe overcapacity concerns in the emergency departments.

The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) says over the past week emergency rooms at Royal University Hospital and St. Paul's Hospital have been routinely overcapacity, and nurses are not only concerned about the care and safety of patients and staff, but also the sustainability of the department.

"There's no possible way that nurses can meet their professional standards of care when you can't give people the dignity to take them into a room," SUN vice president Denise Dick said Thursday.

"The numbers were crazy."

Dick said Royal University's emergency department was more than double overcapacity. Eighty-eight patients were inside the 41-bed department. There were 45 people in the waiting room, 26 people admitted with no bed, 17 people waiting to see a doctor, and 15 people being cared for in the hallway -- nine of which were under the care of paramedics, according to SUN.

"Patients were shoulder to shoulder in the waiting room, and they were actually at a point where they had a room-divider in the waiting room so that the patients could be seen by a physician," Dick said.

Nurses at both hospitals initiated a "stop the line," a provision which allows employees to flag safety concerns and call on additional help temporarily.

Dick said the plea for help was able to move a number of people around the hospital and free up some beds, but nurses can't continually make safety complaints for overcapacity, which is becoming more and more common.

"It's only a Band-Aid fix. It's not a long-term fix," she said. "It takes some of the pressure off but it doesn't sustain it."

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Another concern from nurses on the floor is the timing. The middle of summer isn't typically a time when hospitals are overburdened as peak flu and respiratory illness season is months away.

In a statement, the Saskatchewan Health Authority says the intention is to always provide care in appropriate settings and eliminate the use of hallway beds.

"However, capacity pressures can ebb and flow meaning we must also adapt to meet demand while providing safe, high-quality care at all times," the statement said.

"We acknowledge there continues to be volume and acuity pressures to our emergency departments and inpatient wards in Saskatoon. Ongoing work to address emergency room flow has been introduced, helping to eliminate use of hallway beds."

Dick said while the province repeatedly touts its Saskatoon Capacity Pressure Action Plan, staff inside hospitals aren't noticing much of a difference. As more people struggle to find a family physician or access primary care in other settings, there's no immediate solution in sight.

"It hits our members really hard because they want the patients to be cared for safely. And we know that there's lots of system issues that aren't being addressed. But I think it's becoming more and more apparent because of what's happening in our emergency departments," Dick said.

"As we continue to hire and onboard the staffing complement identified in the plan, improve patient flow, and make enhancements to more appropriately treat patients in the community, we will see less pressure in our acute care and emergency department settings," the SHA said.