The Flin Flon General Hospital is relying on more temporary doctors following the end of 24-hour emergency room shifts.
Nearly one-fifth of emergency room shifts are covered by visiting locum physicians now that the ER operates on two 12-hour shifts daily.
“The mathematics of available physicians for the two shifts per day means we have more shifts than physicians who can staff them,” said Glenn Hildebrand, spokesperson for the Northern Health Region, “while at the same time maintaining their other responsibilities and have sufficient downtime to live a balanced lifestyle.”
Locum doctors will cover a total of 10 shifts per month – five day shifts and five night shifts – with this schedule to be reviewed in mid-2014 to ensure satisfaction on all sides.
That works out to 17 per cent of the 60 ER physician shifts in a given 30-day period.
Locum doctors had previously been required at the ER, but only from time to time, Hildebrand said.
The ER switched from 24-hour physician shifts to 12-hour shifts on Nov. 1.
Hildebrand said the transition “appears to be going quite well.”
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“We have also heard from our nursing staff in the ER that they too are pleased with the changes,” he said, “as it helps support for a more consistent and systematic follow-up with the patients seen in the ER.”
Hildebrand said the change will not cost the NHR additional money. ER physicians are paid the same hourly rate as before, and locum doctors are responsible for their own transportation and accommodations.
Though 24-hour ER shifts were well established at the hospital, the practice had come under increasing scrutiny in recent years.
Helga Bryant, CEO of the NHR, did not see such lengthy shifts as optimal, but she was unable to negotiate a better deal until recently.
“The shorter shifts result in the potential for less fatigue, more reasonable working hours for the physician, an improved presence of better rested family physicians in the clinic and more,” Hildebrand said. “We are pleased that the ER physicians group agreed to the change so that we could move forward with the 12-hour shifts. Ultimately it is the patients who will benefit and that’s why we are here – to support healthy people in a healthy north.”
Well rested
To ensure they are well rested, physicians who work a 12-hour ER shift will not be at their clinic practice the next day.
Flin Flon had been the only community in northern Manitoba where physicians maintained 24-hour shifts.
Indicative of the risks of such shifts, a 2011 Globe and Mail piece referenced studies showing that medical residents working around the clock “make more serious, life-threatening mistakes and more diagnostic errors than those on shorter shifts.”
A number of observers expect 24-hour physician shifts to become increasingly rare in Canada as the public learns more about the associated dangers.
Meanwhile, the ER has a new lead physician following the recent resignation of Dr. Tahseen Mahdi from the hospital.
Dr. Brian Kuo will serve as ER lead in both Flin Flon and The Pas.
“Dr. Kuo has more than 20 years of northern experience and more than 10 years of ER experience,” said Hildebrand. “He was previously the ER department head in Thompson. Dr. Kuo is a certified LifeFlight physician and an assistant professor in the Anesthesiology Department at the (University of Manitoba) Faculty of Medicine.”
ER doctors at the hospital are on 12-hour shifts.
FILE PHOTO
