Veteran ER doctor in Nova Scotia says Omicron has ‘overloaded’ already fragile system

HALIFAX - A senior emergency physician in Nova Scotia says the pressures in ERs throughout the province are unprecedented in his profession, because the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus overloads the capability of an already fragile well being system.

“Since simply earlier than Christmas, day-after-day is worse than the day earlier than,” Dr. Kirk Magee, chief of the central zone community of emergency departments, stated in an interview Monday.

“I’ve been an emergency doctor for 22 years and I can say unequivocally I’ve by no means seen it this dangerous earlier than.”

In the meantime, the province’s Well being Division on Monday reported a surge in COVID-19 admissions: 29 sufferers entered hospital and 19 have been discharged for the reason that final replace on Jan. 7. The division additionally reported that three males — one in his 60s, one in his 70s and one in his 80s — had died of COVID-19.

The rising variety of infections has sickened well being employees and created bottlenecks in emergency rooms, Magee stated.

On Monday, all 36 beds within the Halifax Infirmary emergency room, the place Magee works, have been occupied, he stated, together with some beds in a holding space. Sufferers at best danger have been nonetheless being handled promptly, however sufferers who're at center ranges of danger could also be ready many hours to be examined, he added.

Sufferers with critical circumstances that require emergency intervention — individuals at Degree 3 of the Canadian triage and acuity scale — have been ready in extra of eight hours to be seen on Monday, he stated. That five-level system is utilized by emergency room docs in Canada to guage the seriousness of sufferers’ circumstances. The Canadian commonplace for a Degree 3 affected person to be seen is “inside half-hour, 90 per cent of the time,” he stated.

Emergency departments throughout the province have seen rising delays over the previous two weeks, Magee stated.

“We’re not seeing sufferers in beds,” he added. “Typically, we’re seeing them in hallways, assembly rooms and in chairs. We’re additionally not in a position to entry beds for sufferers who're acutely ailing. They’re being seen on ambulance stretchers in hallways as a result of there’s merely no mattress for them.”

The veteran emergency physician stated the most recent wave of COVID-19 has met “a health-care system that was already fragile … and with Omicron, the wheels have actually fallen off it.”

About 600 out of twenty-two,000 well being employees within the province are off the job as a result of they've contracted COVID-19 or have been uncovered to it, in response to Nova Scotia Well being spokesman Brendan Elliott. There have been 170 sufferers in hospital with COVID-19, both as a result of they have been admitted with the sickness or as a result of they contracted the illness whereas in hospital, he stated Monday in an e-mail. There have been 348 different sufferers in hospital beds awaiting switch to long-term care services, he added.

About 120 scheduled surgical procedures have been postponed throughout the province, Elliott stated. “We’re on the level the place the demand on the acute care system exceeds our capability to offer high-quality care.”

In a briefing on Friday, Dr. Nicole Boutilier, vice-president of medication with Nova Scotia Well being, instructed reporters the well being system was already experiencing employees shortages earlier than the pandemic. Earlier than the Omicron wave, between 14 and 39 per cent of positions have been vacant, she stated.

Kevin MacMullin, the enterprise supervisor of the Worldwide Union of Working Engineers, which represents paramedics, stated members of his union say they're ready hours outdoors hospitals to confess sufferers. Whereas ambulances carrying sufferers wait outdoors hospitals, paramedics are out of circulation, he added.

The union stated in an e-mail Monday that since Dec. 20, 2021, there have been 154 events of “code crucial” conditions — the place there have been two or fewer ambulances in a single county accessible to reply to calls.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 10, 2022.