It is in the capacity of presidents of three medical associations, but above all in support of our colleagues, the technologists in radiology, radiation oncology and nuclear medicine that we write this letter. We speak out in solidarity with our colleagues who leave the public health system for lack of recognition.
The shortage of technologists leaves room for an alarming situation in our departments as well as in several of the centres. This is why we wish to denounce the urgency of this issue.
Just over 20 years ago, people with cancer had to be treated in the United States, due to a shortage of radiation oncology technologists. Last summer, a shortage of these same technologists caused service disruptions in a few radiation oncology centers in the Outaouais, resulting in a reorganization of service corridors and the displacement of patients outside their region.
Shortage
Today, as the province prepares for the summer season, some Quebec women will see their appointments for their annual breast cancer screening exam postponed. This is particularly the case at the Maniwaki hospital where there are currently more than 800 requests pending, while the service is interrupted for an indefinite period in Minganie. These patients will therefore have to travel further for a simple mammogram. At the Outaouais Integrated Health and Social Services Center, the situation is even more worrying: the CLSC Petite-Nation medical imaging service had to close entirely.
The shortage is likely to get worse, as more than a third of technologists plan to leave the public sector in the next year. Our health care system has lost many technologists to other provinces and to fields other than health. Their working conditions are inadequate: the current system is unable to keep them with patients and attract the necessary replacements to meet needs.
And Quebec as a whole must be alerted.
Delays and load shedding
Technologists are health professionals who allow rapid case management, accurate diagnoses and effective treatments, they operate the various devices allowing a diagnosis to be made (radiography, ultrasound, MRI, scintigraphy, etc.) in the required deadlines. Similarly, technologists support and administer cancer treatments in the radiation oncology department.
Without technologists, tens of thousands of radiology and nuclear medicine examinations cannot be performed and hundreds of radiotherapy treatments cannot be administered.
In recent years, technologists have been called upon to keep the network at arm’s length. However, their contribution has not been recognized commensurate with their efforts. Unlike other health professionals, few of them received a bonus thanking them for their presence during the pandemic; few of them got the praise they deserve. We understand them to be exhausted and disillusioned.
In the immediate future, it is essential that the health network recognize these professionals as a strong link in the multidisciplinary teams, and that it act accordingly.
At this stage, however, it will not be enough: the education network will have to make more efforts to promote their profession and attract new technologists to the school benches. This profession is too important for society as a whole and the future of the Quebec health care system – it is urgent to give it back its acclaim!
DD Magalie Dube
President of the Association of Radiologists of Quebec (ARQ)
Dr Norman Laurin
President of the Association of Medical Specialists in Nuclear Medicine of Quebec (AMSMNQ)
DD Laura Masucci
President of the Association of Radiation Oncologists of Quebec (AROQ)