'Completely exhausted': Health-care workers in Manitoba warn staff shortages taking toll
After almost two years of pandemic strain, staffing continues to be a major issue inside Manitoba’s hospitals.
The shortage is being felt across the system, but especially for nurses.
One nurse, who CTV News Winnipeg has agreed not to identify, said they had to leave the Grace Hospital emergency room due to tough working conditions.
"When I was at the Grace working, I wouldn’t get breaks. So we’re talking 12 to 16 hours of having to eat very quickly, use the bathroom very quickly, no time to sit off your feet. So you’re just completely exhausted," they said.
The nurse said nurses can sometimes be in charge of 12 patients at a time in certain situations, a number they feel is dangerous.
“We have a licence as well. If we are in a condition where we can’t provide good care, we are concerned maybe our nursing licence is in jeopardy.”
A doctor working in the St. Boniface Hospital intensive care unit, who also asked to remain anonymous, said the staff shortage is a big factor in upping capacity.
"At the height of it at the St. Boniface Hospital, there were four different ICUs being run just to manage the patient load and currently we only have one intensive care."
In a statement to CTV News, Shared Health said it will ensure patients get the care they need, but the numbers are trending in the wrong direction.
It said the province currently has 104 ICU beds, with 90 of them filled as of Monday.
“Staffing these additional ICU beds remains the most problematic challenge, with calls out for nurses to pick up shifts or EFT in these units. The current incentives are not resulting in sufficient uptake to open the beds required,” Shared Health said.
“While we are thankful and appreciative to the many nurses who have stepped forward, others have taken measures to refuse or deny these assignments.”
The Manitoba Nurses Union (MNU) disagrees, and says a financial incentive isn't "worth the price of one’s physical and mental health."
“The last two years have been beyond exhausting. An inherently selfless position, add layers of disrespect, poor decision-making and lip service, and suddenly you see that nurses cannot be called upon indefinitely,” read a statement from Darlene Jackson, president of the MNU.
“So as much as we’d like to think nurses don’t have a stop point, they do."
With COVID-19 cases continuing to increase in Manitoba, hospital staff are left to do what they can until more nurses can be acquired.
"And it usually sometimes comes down to the attending physician and charge nurse deciding on where a person is going to have to go or denying a person that might have gotten in otherwise," the St. Boniface doctor said.
Going forward, the doctor said there is no quick fix for the problem.
"I think certainly trying to enroll nurses into intensive care programs is the only thing that can be done with regard to the shortage to nurses in intensive care."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.