Safety to be re-evaluated; ‘SWAT team’ immobilized

OBS interruptions continue to plague Pontiac Community Hospital

Allyson Beauregard

Despite the arrival of two nurses from the Jewish General Hospital in Centre-Ouest-de-l’Ile-de-Montreal in early November to provide extra staffing to the Pontiac Community Hospital’s (PCH) obstetrics (OBS) department for the month, the unit experienced its ninth service interruption this year, from November 29 to December 2, due to a lack of nursing staff. 

During service interruptions, women in labour are evaluated at the PCH before being transferred to the Gatineau hospital. In the case of an imminent birth, staff is on site to deliver the baby, but both the mother and baby are later transferred to Gatineau for postpartum care.

In response to an anonymous testimony from a nurse working in OBS at the PCH, saying the persistent staff shortage is putting mothers and babies at risk and seriously affecting the mental health of what few staff remain, Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann said the safety of mothers and newborns will be reassessed at the hospital. The Centre intégré de santé et des services sociaux de l’Outaouais (CISSSO) must continually re-evaluate what needs to be done for the employees and the safety of mothers and babies, she added.

While the unit should have twelve nurses to provide full service, there are currently only five; in total, they worked close to 600 hours of overtime in August and September in addition to their regular shifts. McCann said two nurses are currently being trained in OBS and will be arriving at the PCH after the holidays.

In addition to the nine OBS department interruptions, the PCH also experienced three general surgery service failures this year, which consequently impacted OBS and led to the same transfer arrangements for expectant mothers in case a cesarean was needed. 

On top of the nursing shortage, a province-wide problem, two of the five doctors forming the PCH’s birthing team will be leaving at the end of the year, leaving CISSSO scrambling to find replacements. The doctors’ shifts are only covered until the end of January 2020.

To address the physician problem, on November 28, McCann announced the government signed a long-awaited agreement with the Quebec Federation of Specialist Doctors, which will help ensure the continuity of OBS and surgical services in rural areas by creating a “SWAT team” of physicians who will travel to different regions to cover shifts, effective as of December 2. However, this doesn’t address the nursing staff shortage. 

CISSSO is working on several solutions to staff shortages for the short and medium term: hiring two people tasked solely with recruitment for the PCH; reviewing the hiring process to reflect the linguistic reality of the Pontiac (bilingual interviews and exams); hiring two local managers to oversee operations at the PCH, CLSCs and community outreach; and launching a major recruitment campaign (social media, visiting local schools, international outreach, etc.).