Due to an increase in COVID-19 patients and staff shortages, the William Osler Health System declared an internal Code Orange on Monday, just hours after Prime Minister Doug Ford told Ontarians to “ prepare for the shock ”of the Omicron spread.
An internal orange code indicates that staff will have to be relocated throughout the hospital in the event of an external disaster.
“We are facing a natural disaster that is slowly evolving in front of us,” said Dr. Andrew Healey, medical director of critical care for Osler Health, which includes Brampton Civic and Etobicoke General Hospitals. “Slowly might not be the right word when it comes to Omicron. But we are seeing this wave of infections come through our door in a different way than we have seen in previous waves of the pandemic. “
So far, there are fewer cases of severe pneumonia from COVID-19, but more people walk through the doors. Brampton Civic has been one of the worst affected hospitals in the province throughout the pandemic. But Osler hasn’t requested a code orange for COVID before.
“There are no empty beds that are staffed (and) waiting for patients, like zero,” Healey said. “We really can’t afford to let anyone get out right now, so we have to limit the spread as best we can.”
Osler also designated 16 patients for transfer to other GTA area hospitals Sunday night for the first time in this fifth wave. Ontario’s patient transfer system was necessary to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed in the third wave. But unlike previous waves, Osler is sending patients to hospitals that are also experiencing staff shortages.
“It’s all over the system,” Healey said. “There is no one sitting around the table saying, ‘We have empty beds for staff, please send us 25 patients.’ That just doesn’t exist. “
Osler has some ICU capacity. But, according to Healey, Etobicoke General lost more than half of its nursing complement to the emergency department on Sunday and the Brampton Civic emergency department fell short on nearly half of its nurses. It is a combination of exhaustion, illness, positives or exposures to COVID and the effects of a two-year pandemic on the health care system. Nursing proportions are being stretched to the limit.
The hospital is moving to N95 masks for staff, with visitors being offered KN95 instead of surgical masks. Like intensive care, emergency nursing is a specialized skill, but Osler has already hired radiology nurses, labor and delivery nurses, and mental health nurses to help. As the pressure increases, other services decrease. And like many hospitals, understaffing is causing more impatience and anger in patients, and has for some time.
“We’ve been seeing that for months, actually,” Healey said. “And we are trying to see that in the most empathetic way possible. We want people to come if they are sick. But we want them to understand that the system is really stretched and that we are really doing our best. “
Last week, Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa called an internal Code Orange for similar staffing issues. And early in the pandemic, other hospitals resorted to calling the code, including St. Michael’s, which did so at least nine times.
Reference-www.thestar.com