Nursing staff shortages and overcapacity patient workloads at University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George are chasing nurses away from their jobs, according to the B.C. Nurses Union.
It’s gotten so bad in the intensive care unit at UHNBC that intubated patients are being moved to the emergency room because there are not enough nurses in ICU to care for them.
In the past two years, at least 15 UHNBC emergency room nurses have either quit or have decided to take less stressful positions.
“These are seasoned, experienced nurses that have been in emergency a long time, they love the high rush and the adrenaline but they just can’t do it anymore, so they’re going to community jobs, nursing elsewhere,” said Danette Thomsen, northeast regional head of the BC Nurses Union.
“We need them to mentor the young ones.”
There are currently 50 vacant emergency room nursing positions in the Northern Health region. In the days leading up to the BC Nurses Union rally May 25 in front of the hospital, nurses working in the 17-patient capacity ER ward had an additional 18 patients to care for.
“It’s scary in there,” she said. “It’s triple your workload and it just takes a toll. The halls are packed, and that’s the thing for the nurses of the north. Kamloops has gotten help and Surrey has gotten help, from the government. Where the hell is our help? We need to come up with solutions.”
A few weeks ago, Thomsen brought her grandson to ER and had to wait outside in the parking lot for an hour before they got through to triage staff.
“I was standing there thinking, nobody’s checked to see if anybody’s having heart pain,” she said. “I stood there as a nurse thinking, I hope nobody drops here. Somebody is going to die.”
In outlying northern B.C. cities, nursing staff shortages are forcing ER departments to close. That’s happened recently in Dawson Creek, Fort St. James, Mackenzie, Tumbler Ridge, Burns Lake and now Chetwynd, which will be without ER care for the next three nights, forcing patients to travel to already overcapacity hospitals in Prince George, Fort St. John or Dawson Creek.
