At the confluence of the flu season and the trauma season, the pediatric emergencies of Montreal are experiencing pressure rarely seen since the start of the pandemic due to the deconfinement.
Posted at 7:52 p.m.
On Thursday afternoon, the emergency room occupancy rates at the CHU Sainte-Justine and the Montreal Children’s Hospital stood at 138% and 183% respectively, according to data from Quebec.
With 300 to 340 patients per day, the number of emergency admissions at CHU Sainte-Justine is much higher than normal, says pediatrician and emergency physician Antonio D’Angelo.
“You hardly ever see these volumes, even during the busiest times like Christmas and during flu season, at 300 patients [par jour] in a sustained way, for several, “he explains on the phone.
The end of winter, always conducive to respiratory viruses, is all the more so this year, after two years of pandemic where Quebecers have kept their children “virtually” safe from disease, indicates the Dr D’Angelo.
A long wait
According to the medical director of the emergency department at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, Laurie Plotnick, the increase in contacts due to deconfinement has reignited the spread of other respiratory viruses, including influenza, after a winter when COVID -19 had taken up all the space.
“It’s a mixture of all the viruses because of the deconfinement. Also, in February, we had a drop in COVID cases, and there, what we see is an increase in other viral diseases, ”she specifies.
“It depends on the day, but it is sure that it returns at least to the level before [la pandémie] » details the Dr Plotnick, recalling that “the year before the pandemic, we were very busy, especially in the winter of 2019.”
What’s more, this overflow comes at the same time as the beginning of the “trauma” season, when young people resume outdoor activities (cycling, trampolines, and others) with their inherent risks. At this level, the Dr Plotnick notes an increase in emergency room admissions for trauma compared to the past two years.
Not to mention the end of the “one call, one appointment” system, a telephone line set up last fall to allow Montreal parents to quickly obtain a medical consultation when their child was ill, who was disconnected at the end of March.
Consequence: parents remain stuck in the waiting room, sometimes up to twelve hours at the CHU Sainte-Justine according to the Dr D’Angelo. “When you are faced with twenty or thirty patients per hour, triage becomes difficult. We can wait a very long time, patients are waiting these days […] a very long time,” he said.
A wave of gastro ended
Barely a month ago, pediatric emergencies in the metropolis were struggling with a wave of cases of gastroenteritis, a situation that seems to be recovering, however, indicates the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
At about 5% of ER admissions that are due to this inflammation of the stomach and bowel lining, this was a higher than normal level for the month of March. Since then, the disease has returned to its pre-pandemic rhythm, explains the Dr Laurie Plotnick.
For gastroenteritis, despite the waiting time in the emergency room, it remains relevant to bring your child to the hospital when certain syndromes appear, she recalls. For example, in the event of signs of dehydration such as the absence of tears, dry mouth, drowsiness, a reduced quantity of urine, diarrhea in quantity greater than the liquid drunk or in the event of severe abdominal pain.