Parents with sick kids shouldn't be deterred by ER overcrowding, doc says
The respiratory viruses that cause COVID-19, RSV illnesses and influenza continue to circulate on P.E.I., particularly among children.
And while emergency rooms on the Island continue to deal with overcrowding and long waits, Dr. Trevor Jain says that shouldn't stop concerned parents from taking their children to the hospital.
"We don't like the messaging of 'If you're not in an acute crisis or having an emergency, do not come to the emergency department,'" said Jain, who works at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown and speaks on behalf of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians.
"I don't think it's fair to put the onus on parents to decide whether their kids have an emergency or not. If they can't access a walk-in clinic, don't have a family doctor, or can't get into their family doctor because their family doctor's offices are fully booked, then where else are they to go?"
Until we solve our admitted-patient issues in the emergency departments from coast to coast to coast, we're still going to have emergency department overcrowding. — Dr. Trevor Jain
However, Jain said a wait is likely unavoidable.
On a recent shift at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown, 31 out of the 32 beds in the ER were full — and another 47 people were in the waiting room, he said.
Once assessed, some of them had to wait up to 110 hours — or five days — for a bed in a hospital unit.
Jain said he doesn't think acute care patients are causing the long waits at ERs.
"We know that those patients actually do not contribute to overcrowding. It's patients that are admitted that stay boarded in the emergency department, that can't get to the floor," he said.
"Until we solve our admitted-patient issues in the emergency departments from coast to coast to coast, we're still going to have emergency department overcrowding."
