The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor A move to stop Flin Flon ER doctors from working 24 straight hours has the backing of the head of the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority. NRHA CEO Helga Bryant said Monday she shares concerns over having physicians at the Flin Flon General Hospital cover such lengthy shifts. 'I had a conversation last week with our physicians around ceasing the 24-hour shifts,' she told a public forum at City Hall. 'They quite enjoy the current arrangement and we will need to consider how to work with that.' Bryant said that during last week's talks with the doctors, she pointed out that airline pilots have time limits on their shifts and that physicians' 24-hour shifts are 'of huge concern to me.' But she said her influence over the contract comes when it is renegotiated. 'They have their agreement and we're at the point where we need to have some conversation about renegotiating that, so I've begun to raise that (issue),' Bryant said. 'As long as there is an ER agreement signed, (the doctors) are in control of managing their work.' Asked to reveal how much ER doctors are paid for a 24-hour shift, Bryant said she believes the figure is around $6,300. That works out to about $262.50 per hour. See 'Leng...' on pg. 7 Continued from pg. 1 Bryant made most of her comments in response to statements from Tom Heine, chairperson of a local group calling itself the Concerned Citizens Health Care Committee. One of 40-plus people at the forum, Heine called 24-hour shifts dangerous and said they are not scheduled at the ER in The Pas, which is also part of the NRHA. 'Do you want to go see an ER doctor at hour 23 of the shift?' Heine said in an interview. Heine said even truck drivers are limited to 12-hour shifts in the name of safety. 'Why are we allowing doctors, whose responsibilities are a little more sophisticated than a truck driver...to have 24-hour shifts?' he said. 'It's not fair for them, it's not fair for (patients), for sure. 'Something happens in an emergency room, you have to firing on all cylinders.' Heine said doctors should work no more than 12 consecutive hours and that research has shown 24-hour shifts carry too many risks. Indeed a 2011 Globe and Mail article stated: 'Studies have found (medical) residents who work around the clock make more serious, life-threatening mistakes and more diagnostic errors than those on shorter shifts.' The article quoted an official with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada as saying many provinces are considering reduced hours for medical residents. A separate 2011 report in the Globe and Mail said that while 24-hour shifts are the norm for medical residents in Canada, 'thankfully, for patients, that is changing.' Last year, a Quebec labour arbitrator ruled that these shifts pose a danger to medical residents' health, noted the article, entitled '24-hour shifts are a prescription for medical errors.' Meanwhile, the U.S. Institute of Medicine recommends that medical residents work no more than 16 consecutive hours during their first year after graduation. During Monday's forum, Heine also shared concerns over doctors at the Flin Flon hospital simultaneously serving as the ER physician and the 'doc of the day' for the rest of the hospital patients. Bryant acknowledged this 'double-dipping' has been occurring and said 'we need to sort some of that out.' In an interview, Heine said having the same doctor cover the hospital and the ER is another safety hazard. 'If you are trying to fill two positions at the same time...can you do it properly? That's my main question,' he said. Heine said he believes the 24-hour shifts and having one doctor fill two roles may factor into the concerns some patients have with the level of care they receive. During the forum, Heine said the Flin Flon ER is staffed by just four physicians, but Bryant said another two or three doctors pick up shifts 'to the degree they wish.' Some other local doctors have opted not to work in the ER, she added. The forum was held to allow Bryant to update the public on how the NRHA is complying with 44 recommendations made by an external review panel last year. The Reminder will have more on the meeting next week.
