Sask. nurses detail 'chaos and crisis' at one of province's busiest hospitals
CTV
A nurse working in the emergency room of one of Saskatchewan's largest hospitals says she is "praying" nothing tragic happens as staff and resources are stretched to the limits.
A nurse working in the emergency room of one of Saskatchewan's largest hospitals says she is "praying" nothing tragic happens as staff and resources are stretched to the limits.
"There are 90-year-olds walking out that have paid taxes, and they deserve to be in rooms, and you just can't provide care for them and there are kids [too]," said the nurse, who in one instance says she witnessed a 90-year-old with chest pain leaving without care.
CTV News has agreed to protect the identity of the nurse and withhold the name of the hospital where she is employed because she fears professional reprisal for speaking out.
The long-time ER nurse said when she first started working, a waiting room filled with 20 patients was a "busy day."
"Now we're sitting at 40 to 50 patients in the waiting room and 100 people in the department," she said.
"So there are triage nurses taking care of 50 patients sometimes and these people are sick, they have abdominal pain, they may not need a cardiac monitor, they're not quite sick enough to be in a room immediately, but you can only do so much from the desk," she said.
"So you're just kind of praying that nothing happens … it's really a big guessing game. You use your experience, but it's just a horrible situation to be in. You feel really crappy at the end of the day," she said.
