Isabelle Tousignant loves working in the emergency department at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal. But the 35-year-old nurse plans to leave her post. She was forced to work 22 hours of mandatory overtime (TSO) in the past week. “I don’t want to leave, but I’m a little tired of the neighbor taking care of my son! »
Isabelle Tousignant has a single-parent family. Her 9-year-old son is used to childcare every other weekend. “If you impose OSI on me once every two weeks, once a month, personally, I don’t have a problem with that,” says the nurse, who has a day job. I can understand the situation. But there, four times in one week, it’s no. »
Her son does not have to suffer the repercussions of his “unacceptable” working conditions, she judges. “One evening, three different people took care of it,” she says.
Isabelle Tousignant calls for the TSO to be banned. She argues that this method of management does not comply with section 51 of the Act respecting occupational health and safety, which stipulates that “the employer must take the necessary measures to protect the health and ensure the safety and physical and mental integrity of the worker”. It is high time, according to her, to take care of the “psychic” of exhausted caregivers.
“Mr. Dubé asks for a little patience, says that we have an action plan in place, affirms Isabelle Tousignant. I’ve been in the emergency room for seven years, we’ve been asked for a little patience for seven years. At some point, it will do! »
Isabelle Tousignant is currently completing her bachelor’s degree in nursing. She intends to apply for another position during the next posting of the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, in mid-December.
Suspension for eight nurses
The Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital is facing a glaring staff shortage. The TSO is far from new to the emergency room, according to Denis Cloutier, president of the Union of Care Professionals of the East-of-the-Island-of-Montreal.
“But the number of TSOs has increased a lot in the last few weeks,” he points out. We regularly have 5 to 10 OSI per shift in the emergency room. Since the summer, a dozen nurses or candidates for the practice of the profession who worked in the emergency room have left the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, specifies-t- he.
A month ago, eight nurses working evenings in the emergency room expressed their dissatisfaction during a sit in. After discussing with the employer, they decided not to return to work because of the “too heavy” workload that awaited them, explains Denis Cloutier. “It’s a bit of a gesture that is made by people who are desperate and who no longer believe in it,” he says.
The nurses received a notice of suspension, but the sanction has not yet been applied, according to the union. “We suspend the suspensions because we don’t have enough people to suspend them”, quips Denis Cloutier.
Questioned on this subject, the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal replied that it “is responsible for ensuring the safety of its users and cannot accept that professionals leave their shift without notice, without regard to their responsibility, endangering the patients in their care”. “Their gesture has aggravated the heaviness of the task of their colleagues having to remain on the next shift in order to take over, we write in an email. Such behavior contravenes the nurses’ code of ethics and unfortunately only exacerbates a situation that is already very difficult for everyone. »
Resignations in other emergencies
Struggling with a wave of respiratory viruses, Quebec emergency personnel are “exhausted”, according to the Dr Guillaume Lacombe, vice-president of the Association of specialists in emergency medicine of Quebec.
“From my personal experience, I have the impression that, every week, I learn that nurses with whom I work leave for other services or CLSCs, often for reasons of fatigue,” says the doctor, who practices at the Center hospitalier de Lanaudière, located in Joliette.
The Dr Lacombe believes that the Ministry of Health and Social Services must put in place an “overcapacity plan” so that the hospital units on the floors welcome more patients and take the pressure off the emergency room. This option is evaluated, assured Christian Dubé two weeks ago.
The stretcher occupancy rate was around 140% Thursday afternoon in the Montreal area. Over the past 28 days, it has exceeded, on average, 160% at the Lanaudière Hospital Center, according to Dr.r Lacombe.
“It’s nothing to improve the situation of nurses,” he says. If we are able to go down to 140%, maybe we will be able to remove an OSI tonight, tonight. She is a nurse who will be able to go home and see her children, who will be able to sleep and be in good shape tomorrow. »