Ontario will need public health measures to protect hospitals from patient surges because of staffing shortages, science table says
Ontario will need to use public health measures to “mitigate influxes” of critically ill patients over the coming months and protect a healthcare system that is now struggling with “worsening staffing shortages” and “worker burnout,” a new report prepared by the group of scientists advising the Ford government argues.
The report from Ontario’s Science Table says that while the province has been able to accommodate past patient surges without having to turn to a triage system to ration critical care resources, it likely now “lacks the capacity” to accommodate the sort of uptick in hospitalizations it saw during the third wave of the pandemic this past spring when as many as 940 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units simultaneously.
The scientists say that in addition to a “shortage of critical care nurses and staff” that has worsened through successive waves of the pandemic, hospitals may be less able to achieve “significant reductions in surgical and procedural activity” amid a “growing care-deficit.”
They also say that the “complete absence of influenza transmission” during the 2020-2021 flu season is unlikely to repeat itself this year, lending additional “uncertainty” to the healthcare system’s ability to withstand future waves of the pandemic.
“Going forward, it may be more challenging for the critical care system to rapidly increase capacity as it did during the height of Wave 3 due to staffing shortages, healthcare worker burnout, and a desire to preserve non-COVID clinical activity,” the report states. “It is imperative that public health measures that help to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2 as well as other infectious diseases with the potential to burden the healthcare system, including influenza, are in place over the coming months.”
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore told reporters on Monday that he doesn’t anticipate introducing additional health measures at this time, even in the face of increasing concerns about the Omricon variant.
But the report from the science table says that it is “imperative” that public health measures that help to reduce transmission of COVID-19 be put in place for the winter months.
The scientists argue that there is now a “growing staffing shortages in critical care units” where nurse vacancy rates now exceed nine percent, up from 5.8 per cent prior to the pandemic.
They also say that Ontario hospitals could risk further exacerbating the staffing shortages by turning to some of the same strategies utilized during previous waves, such as giving nurses additional patients and redeploying acute care nurses from other areas of the hospital.
“Burnout has likely contributed to this staffing shortage,” the report notes. “Nurses in particular have been at increased risk for burnout during the pandemic for a variety of reasons, including heighted anxiety about risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 at work, an increase in patient acuity, increasing demands for overtime, reassignment to unfamiliar roles, and sustained exposure to the moral distress associated with caring for patients with COVID-19.”
The science table says that 9,096 Ontarians with COVID-19 were admitted to intensive care units between March 20, 2020 and October 31, 2021. They say that at the peak of the third wave the number of ICU patients on ventilators was at 180 per cent of the pre-pandemic norm.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.