“We were already short nurses”: State of Northern nursing amidst COVID-19

And to add, B.C. has the lowest number of nurses per capita than the rest of Canada. In 2019 alone, there was $162 million in overtime paid out in the system just to keep it afloat.

As a result, nurses are unable to feel a sense of relief of the drop in acute care occupancy amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic according to the union president.

“Particularly in the North, we have seen UHNBC often running at 130 to 140 per cent occupancy. So now to be running at say 60 or even 70 per cent occupancy, this is very strange for nurses. They’ve never actually been in this situation, and that comes with its own set of pressures or anxiety of the ‘what if’ and ‘what might come.”

While hospitals have been able to manage due to the lower occupancy levels of patients, but they’ve also had to accommodate for the number of nurses that have been unable to work due to feeling sick, whether that be with symptoms related to the virus or not.

Sorensen says they have great concerns for the future in the event of a return to the way hospitals have operated prior to the pandemic.

“We were already short nurses, and the North was seriously short,” says Sorensen.

Those concerns are felt across the globe. According to a World Health Statistics Report, it was estimated of upwards of one million additional nurses would be needed by this year.

“COVID has arrived at a time where nursing is also identifying that we’re in a worldwide shortage for nursing, and its a real problem for the system.”

With emergency rooms across the country experiencing lower numbers of individuals coming in during the pandemic, it’s enabling nurses to provide the patients who are in for legitimate reasons with the care that they should be under their license.

“They have time to actually have quality time with the patients, do those interviews, be able to provide good care, all of the things we know that are important to ensure the health and safety of the patient. The better the care, the better the outcome.”

The BC Nurses Union has been seeing people delaying their visit to emergency rooms who aren’t experiencing COVID symptoms, but rather experiencing issues such as chest pain, diabetes, or other health complications.

Sorensen states that anyone who is experiencing symptoms that require emergency care, that they should not be afraid of going to the hospital.

With the Northern Health authority being the largest the province has in terms of geographical size, the nurses union indicates that residents need to ensure they are still following the Province’s mandates on social distancing due to the limited access to health care for much of the rural communities.

While residents in the Lower Mainland have made a habit of applauding frontline workers from their apartment balconies and front lawns, Prince George has been seeing convoys of vehicles parading through the roads surrounding UHNBC as a way to pay tribute to the staff of the hospital.

Sorensen says its actions like that which lead to nurses feeling incredibly valued by the community.

“I think for nurses, we do our work because we care for our patients, we know the risks of our job, and we go in there as dedicated professionals every single day. We know we’re respected by the public. We’ve often heard that nurses are well-loved by the public, but to be able to see this in action has been incredibly inspiring, particularly for nurses who are really feeling a lot of distress at this time.”

She adds that these tributes extend to all of the essential service workers who are often invisible in the overall care for society, citing grocery store clerks, cleaning staff at hospitals, or anywhere else in the public.

by Ethan Ready

“We were already short nurses”: State of Northern nursing amidst COVID-19

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