Overcrowding in our hospitals

With the recent news being bed shortages in our hospitals, it behooves all  of us to become familiar with the options available in the community for health care.  There are nurse practitioners, family doctors, urgent care, telehealth phone lines, the internet etc as resources for those of us who become ill. Seeing telecasts about overcrowding and long waits in emergency rooms is just plain frustrating.

This time of year, every year, we have influenza outbreaks. Is there not a way to treat this in the LTC facilities.  If a patient is a DNR and over 80 years, is it really warranted to transport this person to hospital to aggressively treat a suspected flu case.  This issue of readmission to the original facility after treatment is an issue as well.  Has the patient been exposed to the flu during admission?  Is the original facility on outbreak with the flu itself?  Can the staff in the LTC facility care for this individual.

My thinking is that the individual would be much better served to be care for in the facility from which they came.  The individual has indicated a Do Not Resuscitate status.  The facility should have a 24 hour on call NP who can assess and prescribe meds, oxygen, and  iv therapy in the setting.  The patient should not have to suffer through the confusion of transport, emergency room, hospital hallway.  At 80 plus years old, these individuals deserve dignity and the right to receive the care they need where they are.

It is up to us to be much more creative in our response to illness with all generations. Those of us who are not children and still working, are able to utilize other treatments for colds and flu.

By all means, if a cold is not improving, shortness of breath or pain with breathing, then there needs to be action and an examination by a medical professional.

The backlogs in the emergency rooms can be prevented with the judicious use of the appropriate  resource for the appropriate reason.  No one should be waiting for 6 hours to be seen in ER--that's a waste of time--if you can wait that long, you can be seen in urgent care, a walk in clinic or tomorrow at your family doctor's.

It is essential that the community residences link with the hospitals to allow for a smooth flow of patients from acute back to long term care and community care.  The quicker a well patient is transferred out of acute care, the greater the chances that the individual escapes a nosocomial infections.

Judicious usage of our precious healthcare resources must be the new norm. An individual without care at home should be discharged to pay for care at home if 24 hour care is needed and link with family and friends for coverage of care.

The community care services are available.  It is up to all of us to learn and educate others about the healthcare options and resources we have in Ontario.

We are responsible to future generations for the state of healthcare.  The older individuals have contributed to healthcare dollars over the years and therefore deserve to have the care they desire in the environment they desire.

If we will just come together and listen to one another, there would be no more patients in the hallways being nurse by overworked staff who are suffering from compassion fatigue.

The situation becomes worse when there is little or no relief from overcensus. The nurses begin to believe that management doesn't care about them. They are working harder with less resources. They begin to grumble and drag each other down. The grumbling spills over into the provision of care. The patients are compromised and the families begin to grumble. The management deals with the grumbling families and patients and the overcrowding continues--it is a vicious circle with many people occupied in putting out the same fires. 

The education of the public is part of the approach to solving this problem. There must be a multi-pronged approach. The LTC facilities must have staff upgraded and certified to start and manage IVs in the facilities. NPs should be brought alongside each LTC facility to provide 24/7 access to meds, oxygen, iv therapy. X-ray capability on site of the facility would be ideal--or a mobile x-ray team.  There are so many viable options that could be tried to improve the care of all in the facilities that we have in Ontario.

Your ideas are welcome. Please share your thoughts.