(Québec, Montréal) The efforts deployed by the emergency crisis unit were affected by the wave of influenza – which arrived earlier than expected – which made the situation “extremely difficult”. More than 1,000 Quebecers a day these days leave the emergency room without having seen a doctor.
“Today for any Quebecer, it is extremely difficult to see a doctor in the emergency room,” said the president of the Association of Specialists in Emergency Medicine of Quebec, Dr.r Gilbert Boucher. About 16% of patients – which represents between 1,200 and 1,500 people a day – leave the emergency room without seeing a doctor, he says.
“It’s a lot, a lot of people,” he laments. “When we talk about more than 1,000 Quebecers a day who leave the emergency room without seeing doctors, we can miss it,” adds the Dr Butcher.
It is the influenza virus, which arrived in Quebec earlier than usual, which comes to play the spoilsport. “There is not a big emergency in Montreal which is below 140%. Everyone is overwhelmed,” adds the president of ASMUQ.
The Health Index Directory showed an overall occupancy rate of 128% in the province’s emergency rooms at the end of the day on Monday. In Greater Montreal, this rate is 139%.
The emergency rooms of the Jewish General Hospital and the Royal Victoria Hospital are over 175% occupied. The situation was also critical in emergency rooms in Lanaudière (184%), Centre-du-Québec (160%), Outaouais (157%) and Laurentides (153%). Six establishments had occupancy rates of 200% or more, including two in Montreal and two in the Outaouais.
Cases of influenza are indeed on the rise, according to the latest data from the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec, published Monday. We learn that there were more than 2,000 cases of influenza declared last week, against less than 900 the previous week.
Positive point: the peak of the influenza wave could occur before the holidays when there are fewer health care workers on leave. The Dr Boucher expects the wave to last between six to eight weeks.
Still difficult for children
The traffic is still very high in pediatric emergencies, also strongly affected by the circulation of respiratory viruses, according to pediatric emergency physician Matthieu Vincent. The fallout from Minister Dubé’s crisis cell is still pending, deplores the Dr Vincent, who practices in particular at the CHU Sainte-Justine, but adjustments are made locally to better welcome patients.
Despite this, “the children wait a very, very long time”, sighed the Dr vincent. “We see 10 am, 4 pm, sometimes even 24 hours, because they have exhausted all the resources at their disposal”, and the difficulty of obtaining an appointment with a doctor pushes parents to the emergency room. At the Montreal Children’s Hospital, the occupancy rate reached 275%, at the CHU Sainte-Justine, it is 169%.
A “difficult to manage” guest
This pressure added by influenza means that emergencies are “not able to increase [leur] service offer “currently, despite the means deployed by the crisis unit, which have allowed improvements in recent weeks, indicates the Dr Butcher. “It’s an addition that is extremely difficult to manage. We are short of staff, that’s what we feared, but it’s happening earlier this year, ”he said.
The ASMUQ also urges Quebec to order the recommendation to force the floors of an establishment to increase their hospitalization capacity to distribute the pressure when the emergencies are overcrowded at more than 150%.
“It has to be put in place quickly because that’s where, to have 200% [d’occupation] in the emergency room, it’s dangerous. We have to find a way to go down to 120, 130% to let us work because at the moment the next sick patient, we are not able to see him, ”pleads the Dr Boucher, who is part of the emergency unit created by the Legault government.
For its part, the DD Judy Morris, president of the Association des médecins d’urgence du Québec, notes that despite efforts to facilitate access to the first line of the network, many patients still come to the emergency room when they should rather be seen in clinical.
In the office of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, it is admitted that the “situation remains difficult”, but that it “is stabilizing and improving on certain points”, as for the number of patients on stretchers who no longer require emergency care.
“We are aware that we must do more,” we said. Quebec is currently planning to deploy the pediatric 8-1-1 line in other regions. In addition, more than 93% of patients who call the front-line access window (GAP) currently receive service in 36 hours or less without having to go through the emergency room, according to Mr. Dubé’s office.
“We have always said that everything was on the table to unclog emergencies and we will continue to listen to the solutions proposed by the crisis unit. As we said when we unveiled our Health Plan, it’s all about execution and implementation. We succeeded with vaccination, we will succeed with emergencies, ”said Mr. Dubé’s office in a statement sent to The Press.