Stretcher occupancy rates are reaching peaks in many emergencies in Quebec. Emergency physicians expect difficult days this week, but hope that the resumption of regular activities in hospitals and medical clinics on Tuesday will reduce pressure in emergency rooms as well as traffic in waiting rooms. Influenza is gaining ground in the province, according to the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec.
Emergencies are overflowing in the greater Montreal region. In the metropolis, the occupancy rate on stretchers reached 239% on Tuesday morning at the Royal-Victoria hospital, 213% at the Lasalle hospital, 197% at the Lakeshore general hospital and 188% at the Lasalle hospital. Verdun. In Lanaudière, the occupancy rate on stretchers was around 215%, according to the IndexSanté website. This percentage was 184% at the Suroît hospital and the Anna-Laberge hospital, in Montérégie. It exceeded 180% at the Saint-Eustache hospital in the Laurentians. In Outaouais, the Gatineau hospital recorded a rate of 200%.
The Dr Gilbert Boucher, president of the Association of Emergency Medicine Specialists of Quebec, explains this situation, among other things, by the spread of influenza. More and more seniors affected by the flu end up in emergency rooms and must be hospitalized. “We have really entered the peak of the increase in the virus,” he notes. We hope that too many elderly people and senior centers will not be hit. »
According to the INSPQ, the influenza virus gained ground during the holiday season. During the week ending December 30, 19.67% of cases of respiratory infections tested were positive for influenza (compared to 15.5% the previous week) and 7.25% for respiratory syncytial virus (9, 1% the previous week). The COVID-19 positivity rate stood at 15.9% (20.6% the previous week).
These infections can lead to a stay of two or three days in hospital when they affect seniors or people with another illness, indicates the DD Judy Morris, president of the Association of Emergency Physicians of Quebec. “They have trouble staying up and eating,” she said. They drop pressure. » They can then fall and injure themselves.
Holiday Vacation
The overcrowding of emergency rooms is also attributable to a lack of hospital beds on the floors, linked to the shortage of staff and the vacation of caregivers during the holiday season. “Our situation is still stretched to the maximum,” recalls the DD Judy Morris. We don’t have much room for maneuver in normal times. »
Many patients who are hospitalized but no longer require acute care are also stuck in the hospital, because they do not have space in an accommodation environment (e.g. CHSLD, intermediate resources, etc.) or in a rehabilitation center. As of December 15, these users occupied 13.4% of hospital beds, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS). The ministerial target is 8%.
To free up hospital beds, the Minister of Health Christian Dubé indicated in mid-December that he had recently concluded agreements with accommodation resources in order to open 200 places intended for seniors waiting for a CHSLD. “We are in the process of purchasing 300 other places,” he said.
The crisis unit is due to meet on Tuesday to take stock of the situation in emergencies. The new “access coordinator”, Michel Delamarre, the pilot.