Alberta’s COVID-19 situation forces specialty docs to act as ICU reinforcements

As ICU capacity reaches its limit in Alberta staffing continues to be the biggest concern. Carly Robinson speaks with doctors about the efforts to keep the system afloat.

By Kayla Butler

Posted Sep 16, 2021 8:56 am.

Last Updated Sep 16, 2021 9:44 am.

EDMONTON – As COVID-19 cases continue to fill up Alberta’s ICUs, one Edmonton psychiatry resident says he was shocked to get an email asking for his colleagues to consider volunteering in intensive care.

“I’ve not had to practice those skills in over five years. So, you know I didn’t put my name forward, I don’t feel comfortable,” shared Dr. Raheem Suleman, a fifth-year psychiatry resident at the University of Alberta.

“I don’t feel pressure to put my name forward, but the fact that we’re asking for that is scary.”

"It takes a lot for doctors and nurses to be scared… and if they are telling you they're scared, you should listen."

5th-year psychiatry resident @RaheemYEG on getting a letter asking for volunteers to backfill in the ICU. #YEG #yyc #abpoli #ableg https://t.co/NuhqCNnngs pic.twitter.com/IteMdI3vxk

— Carly Robinson (@CarlyDRobinson) September 15, 2021

Alberta Health Services says staffing is the biggest challenge of this fourth wave as the front line is already exhausted. Several doctors have warned that Alberta is on the verge of an acute care collapse.

“Ideally in the ICU, you want one-to-one care. Those are your sickest patients and now we are looking at models where it will be three patients to one nurse, and that might not even be an ICU nurse,” explained Dr. Erika Macintyre, president of Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association (EZMSA).

“These health care workers pulled from different clinics and services, I think we’re starting to call out the concept there is a reduction in services. And were not happy about it,” said Macintyre, who is also an intensive respirologist at Misericordia Hospital.

“For people who think you can solve this with the stroke of a pen by recruiting more doctors more nurses–you’re ignoring the specialty of the job and all the downstream impacts,” added Suleman.

EZMSA is calling for immediate action in hopes cases will go down so they don’t need to enact the COVID-19 triage protocol, where decisions based on the potential for survival are factored into who gets a bed.

AHS tells CityNews Alberta has not yet used triage protocol, but it will if all other resources are depleted. The health authority is asking staff to brush up on the protocol.

“70% of Albertans have voted by getting 2 shots in their arms… and they’re at risk of losing the healthcare system they need because of 20% of the population hasn’t done it yet.”

Dr. Jim Talbot on the state of ICU, case numbers and vaccine passports pic.twitter.com/GjsODriQJq

— Carly Robinson (@CarlyDRobinson) September 15, 2021

“What we need more than anything else is effective action that takes the pressure off the accute care system, and slows the transmission,” said Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health.

Talbot says it’s not just COVID-19 patients impacted, but everyone else who needs care.

“Seventy per cent of Albertans have voted by getting two shots. And they’re at risk of losing the health care system they need because 20 per cent of the population hasn’t done it yet,” said Talbot.

Doctors say COVID-19 is a complex issue, and they are asking for help: get vaccinated and take steps to reduce the spread in the community, like wearing a mask and distancing wherever possible.

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