A veteran nurse at the hospital in Steinbach says it is nothing unusual for their Emergency Department to be below the baseline for nurses. In fact, she says that is the norm.

The nurse, who has asked to remain anonymous, has worked at Bethesda Regional Health Centre for 16 years, with seven of those in the Emergency Department. She is responding to a post last weekend by the Manitoba Nurses Union, which alerted the public to the fact there were only two nurses on duty both Friday and Saturday in Steinbach's ER. The baseline for weekend staffing at the ER is six nurses for days and evenings and then five nurses overnight.

"We have been working under baseline since the start of COVID and it has just continued on," she explains. "This past year has been working below baseline almost every day. When you come in and you are fully staffed it is a special treat."

She notes there are many days when only two or three nurses are working. 

"We often are working a full 12 hour, 13 hours and nobody is getting a break, that is not unheard of, this is happening regularly," she says. "There is no way you can have a break when there is only two other people on the floor."

She says she regularly works 12-hour shifts but is often there for 16 hours. Even on days off, she will sometimes swing by the hospital just to help out for as long as possible. 

For day shifts, she says they are fortunate that other staff is very understanding in getting pulled to help fill the gaps. For example, if a Code Blue is called because a patient is lacking oxygen or a heartbeat, she says it is all hands on deck to help resuscitate. But, for night shift, she says there is fewer staff in the building.

According to the nurse, wait times these days are "absolutely horrible." She says she feels for the people of Steinbach and area who are using the Emergency Department like a walk-in clinic because they can not see a doctor anywhere else. She adds some of the extra workload has been related to COVID-19 the last two and a half years, but not everything is because of the pandemic. 

"I think some of the staff burnout happened with COVID and then with the amount of people we're seeing with the high acuity," she adds. "A lot of people were scared to go to the hospital during COVID or they didn't want to have to deal with all those restrictions. So they didn't come to the hospital and now they are coming to the hospital and they are very ill people."

She notes her colleagues are burnt out and some are on leave. 

"I am very close to being at that point," she admits. 

The anonymous nurse says one of the hardest parts of what her department is going through is not being able to support new staff. She notes there is staff being hired who have never before worked in an ER. 

"They need support, they need someone to help guide them through some of this and I don't feel like I'm there to support the way they need to be," she says. 

The anonymous nurse, who feels both the province and Southern Health share the blame for what is happening, was asked what can be done to remedy the situation. She says other hospitals in the region have the capability of offering reduced hours in such a situation, but not Bethesda.

"Bethesda doesn't have that option, we are not allowed to close," she notes. "I don't know how we are supposed to continue because safe patient care is what is needed and if I can't provide that or if something happens, I am legally responsible for these people I'm looking after. I can't look after them the way I'm supposed to if I don't have the staff."

She questions whether staff can be pulled from other facilities in the region where the ER is closed overnight. 

"The staffing shortage is nationwide, you can't get away from that, I understand that," she says. "But there has to be something that is happening or some kind of plan of how to best move forward because right now it's not safe all the time."

Related Stories