Letter to the Editor October 5, 2006
Re: Tense times in Emergency Rooms
Kudos to the Herald for bringing out the news that our Emergency Departments in Calgary are struggling with over-crowding, constrained staffing, and the constant bottleneck of too few beds to put patients in. As anyone who has had to wait in an ER knows, we do have problems.
However, I want to point out on behalf of our beleaguered ER nurses that there has been an unfortunate consequence of emphasizing individual “horror stories”.
Our nurses are reporting that more people are showing up at Emergency departments hostile and angry. They expect a difficult time and are already stressed.
This does not help anyone get the care they need smoothly and as quickly as possible. And it frays the nerves for everyone involved.
We have an incredible staff of highly skilled Registered Nurses working in our Emergencies. Their first priority is always saving lives and easing pain for their patients.
Emergency nursing is one of the most challenging jobs you can imagine and our team does their absolute best to provide quality clinical care.
The Calgary Health Region is well-aware that capacity is a huge problem that affects the well-being and comfort of so many people. Nurses are providing them with good suggestions for improving care and streamlining faster care. But the bottom line is increasing the number of available beds. We sincerely hope the Region moves as fast as possible to do so.
As one Emergency nurse said recently, “I am so worn out by coming to work each day and having to say sorry, over and over.”
There is a problem with news coverage that focuses on these painful “symptoms” – like not enough time to provide the extra bit of human care than can be so important. You risk missing the underlying “disease”, the lack of beds, staff and resources, that is the real cause.
Karen Craik, RN, Treasurer, United Nurses of Alberta |
