Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. (CHAT News Today)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Med Hat doctor says COVID causing staff shortages and fatigue at hospital

Aug 23, 2021 | 11:12 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A ER doctor at the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital said morale is down and staff are fatigued as the hospital grapples with COVID-19.

The city has the second-highest case rate per capita in the province, according to Alberta Health, with 523 active cases as of Friday.

Last week, an outbreak was declared at the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital after five patients and 16 staff tested positive for the virus.

Dr. Paul Parks is an ER physician at the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital and president of emergency medicine with the Alberta Medical Association. He spoke with CHAT News Today late last week.

He said staff at the hospital are managing the patients they currently have but he warned it could strain the healthcare system if case numbers don’t come down.

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An AHS spokesperson confirmed there are 10 ICU beds at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. Five of those beds are being occupied by COVID-19 patients. There are also fifteen COVID-19 patients in the hospital but not in the ICU.

Dr. Parks said it is important for people to remember that the ICU is designated to support not just COVID-19 patients but other patients who are needing critical care or are recovering from an operation

The doctor adds the recent outbreak has had an impact on staffing levels, largely due to staff testing positive and needing to isolate.

“We have been operating at 100 per cent nursing staffing a lot of the time for the past 18 to 20 months and now as soon as you get that kind of exposures where people are out for weeks even if they have a mild case, but they are sick and positive for COVID-19, they can’t work, then other healthcare workers have to step up and do more,” he said.

Dr. Parks emphasized that the pressure put on hospital staff, not only at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital but province-wide, has decreased spirits greatly, and each wave becomes more difficult.

“When the waves hit, and COVID-19 gets worse it makes our ability to give healthcare to all Albertans, every single one of them. COVID-19 or not, it makes it a lot harder for us,”

Dr. Parks also said that the province’s stance towards the pandemic has not helped with officials downplaying how bad COVID-19 really is.

The ER physician also criticized the province in their messaging around hospital staffing shortages, and he said they are far greater than what is being portrayed.

“Whatever messaging the public has been hearing from AHS and the government, there are not a whole bunch of nurses sitting out there ready to work and fill in the gaps as soon as needed. That doesn’t exist now. We have stretched our staffing resources to the absolute limits.” he said.

At Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, senior nursing staff, according to Dr. Parks, are leaving their positions in the ICU and Emergency, for other positions that are less stressful. That, in turn, according to Dr. Parks, is contributing to a strain in care.

“You can’t just replace a nurse that has 20 years of experience in ICU or emergency. You can’t just replace them in one day,” he said.

Dr. Parks said the Alberta Medical Association has penned letters to the province warning them of a very difficult fall, with crowded emergency rooms, and hospital overcrowding.

Dr. Parks urged Hatters to social distance, wear their masks, and get vaccinated in order to reduce the strain on the healthcare system, as well as to support the doctors and nurses who are taking care of patients.