In order to free up emergencies, Minister Christian Dubé is banking on the implementation of the hospital overcapacity protocol, which means that patients will be redirected to other hospital units to allow staff to focus on the most difficult cases. more urgent.
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Mauril Gaudreault, President of the College of Physicians of Quebec, supports the use of this strategy, stating that “if we want to support emergency care teams and ensure access to care for patients, the ENTIRE hospital must shares the risk of emergency admissions.
This temporary measure will be in effect until March 31, 2023.
This would increase the quality of care and reduce the length of stay by 24 hours or more, according to a study.
Gilbert Boucher, president of the Association of Emergency Medicine Specialists of Quebec, says that “safety is at the center of all these decisions”.
“Being on the floors is often safer than being in a hallway when no one is watching you,” he says.
He admits that this is an additional task for the nursing staff, but adds that “in the emergency room, it will allow us to see the next heart attack or the next stroke and that is really the point of the overcapacity”.