2023-12-27 14:14:30
After the calm comes the storm, says an old adage, which seems to apply to the average occupancy rates of emergency rooms in Quebec. As of Wednesday morning, the average occupancy rate was 113%, much higher than the 87% and 84% stretcher occupancy reported on December 24 and 25 and a significant increase from the 95% rate recorded the day before.
According to Index Québec, the most affected hospitals are in Sept-Îles (220%), Mont-Laurier (200%), Sainte-Agathe (189%), Anna-Laberge (172%), Le Suroît (166%) and Sorel (153%). In Montreal, the average occupancy rate was 120%. In addition, 15 of the 21 hospital centers with an emergency room had an occupancy greater than 100%. The emergency rooms of the Jewish General Hospital (172%), the Lakeshore General Hospital (161%) and LaSalle (160%) are once again the most affected.
Among the 14 regions, the highest average rate was 148% in the Laurentians, where each of the six emergency rooms was overflowing. The rate was 142% in Lanaudière, 135% in Laval, 131% in Montérégie, 124% in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 120% in Outaouais and 118% in the Mauricie–Centre-du-Québec region.
In Quebec and Chaudière-Appalaches, the average occupancy rate fluctuated between 92% and 95%. It was 100% in Estrie and 83% on the North Shore. The only region that had a rate considered normal was that of Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine, at 66%.
Currently it’s coming in by the shovelful because of patients with respiratory viruses who occupy almost half of my beds.
In interview on the show All one morning on the airwaves of ICI Première, Doctor Amélie Boisclair explained that hospitals being communicating vessels, when it spills over into one department, it has effects in all the other departments of the hospital.
According to her, we should work on behavioral changes. Respiratory citizenship is not just washing your hands and coughing into your elbow, reminded the intensivist. It takes masks, isolation if you are sick, clear messages and better management of our air quality.
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Stable waiting time
Good news, however, the average waiting time is 4 hours 32 minutes in the waiting room and 15 hours 40 minutes on a stretcher, times relatively similar to those observed during the Christmas lull.
Before the holidays, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, asked for the population’s help to relieve Quebec’s emergencies during the holiday period. He noted that there was a large proportion of people who go to the emergency room without having an urgent problem.
The minister invited these people to turn to other options offered during the holidays, including family medicine clinics or specialized nurse practitioners and pharmacies who can provide professional advice. He recalled that the 811 telephone service allows you to speak to a nurse and, sometimes, to obtain an appointment.
With information from The Canadian Press
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