Sask. nurses rally to call out hospital overcrowding, unsafe patient conditions

Nurses gathered for a rally that began at St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon on Monday said they're burning out trying to keep up with an unending stream of patients that need more help than the nurses can give.

"The conditions are terrible. They've just been getting worse and worse," said Steph Fehr, a registered nurse clinician who was among the dozens of people gathered for the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses-led rally.

"We're losing senior and junior staff by the handfuls and handfuls every day because of the moral injury we're experiencing because of the overcapacity conditions."

She noted that on the day of the rally, 36 patients were waiting to be taken upstairs, with only 29 beds in emergency. That left seven people waiting amidst all the other emergency patients yet to be seen, she said.

"So that puts that workload on our triage staff having to treat all of those patients in a waiting room, which is completely unsafe," Fehr said, noting these patients can't be given adequate pain relief because they would not be able to be properly monitored.

She said she sees nurses crying after every shift over conditions that they are unable to change.

Patients are suffering as a result of the overcrowding, according to Bianca Funes, a nurse in St. Paul's emergency department.

"Sometimes patients have no privacy, no dignity. We are doing pad changes in the hallways. We have to hold up blankets just to make some sort of wall around their hallway bed," she said, adding she already feels burned out four years into her career as a nurse.

"If we continue like this, we're going to have nobody left to care for the public."

The rally follows one held in Regina last month, where people gathered at the legislature to voice similar concerns.

On Monday, Premier Scott Moe was asked about the latest rally held in Saskatoon and noted that Saskatchewan, as a growing province, continues to need nurses of all types.

He said the province announced a four-point action plan earlier this fall, which included dedicating $60 million toward initiatives including recruiting more international health care workers, calling out to unlicensed Saskatchewan and Canadian residents with international health care experience, and adding more nursing seats in education programs.

"But I think we have to be even more ambitious in the years ahead as every other province is faced with the same challenge."

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Tracy Zambory, president of Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, said she is concerned the province's action plan isn't enough to address the needs of nurses.  

"None of this is translating to the front lines. All the things they say they're doing, they're not working," she said, noting that a recent SUN survey had 81 per cent of responding nurses say they've been in situations where a lack of staffing has put patients at risk. 

SUN is advocating for a nursing task force to come up with solutions.

"We know it won't be instantaneous, but we need some hope in this system and right now there isn't any,"  Zambory said.