1) Critical care transport crews as busy now as peak of 3rd wave. Smaller community ICUs being relied on more this wave than the last, to accept pts that normally would have gone to larger tertiary care ICUs. 1/5
2) ICU HCWs report "doubling" more pts now than before. Capacity made by having 1 nurse care for 2 pts simultaneously. "what was unsafe in 2019 is now routine and acceptable, the effect is we have to spend less time per patient and we can't do as much for them" 2/5
3) RDRH HCWs reporting repeatedly being over capacity resulting in "double bunking" multiple pts and many being transferred to YEG. Nurses there choosing early retirement, redeployed nurses leaving due to burnout. 3/5
4) YYC family MD reports being advised by RAAPID to send an acutely ill pt in significant pain by private vehicle to emergency instead of ambulance due to unavailability of ambulances and long wait times. 4/5
5) To make C19 capacity at RDRH beds have been closed and staff redeployed from rehab, oncology, palliative and surgical units.
6) ACH OR staff report being redeployed to support adult ICU. 5/5
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1) Early reports suggest BC and SK challenged/unable to receive AB ICU pts or send skilled staff (ICU RNs or RTs). Normally BC and SK depend on AB for emergency capacity. MB may be only option. 1/6
2) South Zone CRH & MHRH postponing 70% surgeries, 75% endo, 80% day procedures, 70% cardiorespiratory visits, 50% women & children's visits -> urgent and emergent cases to be prioritized. AHS says starting Monday, HCWs report it has already begun. 2/6
3) Alternate models of care "Care Hubs" across AB medical and critical care settings. Safe nursing ratios replaced by "teams" of nurses (ICU and redeployed) doing their absolute best, but struggling. Past 1 ICU nurse: 1 pt. Now 1 ICU nurse + 1 or 2 redeployed: 3 or 4 pts. 3/6
1) GSICU at UAH adopting "care hubs" where 1 ICU nurse with redeployed nurses (pulled from office jobs, public health, OR etc) are caring for up to 4 critically ill patients. "This is disaster nursing" one HCW says. 1/8
2) Critical care transport crews report 98% of pts are medical transports and C19 related. Including a transfer from Lac La Biche to Calgary for available/appropriate critical care bed and 4 critical C19 transfers from Edson alone today. 2/8
3) Many DMs from RDRH ICU - entire ICU double bunking C19 pts. "The capacity has simply come from giving us more patients." CCU full of non-C19 pts and CCU pts pushed to cardiac telemetry unit. 3/8
1) Surgeries cancelled across services/specialties at the UAH today, including "morning of" cancellations in neurosurgery (brain tumors & aneurysms) and plastics (burns & reconstructions). Our colleagues report the system is "falling apart" 1/8
2) HCWs, esp ICU nurses, sharing group resignations. Other RNs rapid redeployment to ICU to "open capacity" leaving OR, public health and home care unstaffed. ICU nurses telling us they routinely care for 2pts instead of 1, "what was unsafe in 2019 is routine in 2021" 2/8
3) Unreported over the long weekend, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge ICUs were over capacity. At MHRH inhospital code blues (cardiac arrest) would have to be sent to the ED for care due to ICU workload. 3/8
This Twitter account was started by a multi-disc team of frontline HCWs in response to capacity (mis)estimates made by @AHS_media. Our team works in 10+ facilities that routinely close care spaces, but those closures go unreported or denied by politicians. 1/4
At first we thought the inaccurate reporting was by mistake, but as time has gone on, there simply does not seem to be the the will or ability to be transparent with Albertans about true state of the health care system. 2/4
For months now we have seen ED beds, medicine beds, surgery beds closed, ORs and clinic appointments cancelled. We are now seeing closures and cancellations like never before. Our verified HCWs from throughout AB are speaking up and sharing the state of the system. 3/4
Thread from our DMs with verified HCWs across the province. Thank you to all our HCWs:
1) Early this morning there was some increased capacity in northern AB ICUs (discharges, transfers and deaths), but by this afternoon all ICU beds in northern AB were again full. 1/5
2) HCW at QEII reports having to make urgent requests for airway, oxygenation and ventilation equipment as demand surges. 2/5
3) YEG ICUs attempted to free up beds yesterday & today by transferring patients to YYC. AHS leadership describe the situation as "extremely challenging" and ICU capacity as "strained". RAH and UAH ICUs at capacity early last night and remain at 100% capacity. 3/5