Burnout reaches new levels for Sask. health-care workers: psychiatrist
As the province moves to ease pressure on hospitals through patient transfers and federal help, healthcare workers say they're experiencing a new level of burnout.
Tamara Hinz, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, says moral distress has evolved over the last two years.
"For the first several months a lot of us were running on fear and adrenaline and those gas tanks are empty now,” Hinz said.
According to Hinz, those empty tanks are leading to chronic stress and constant fatigue for healthcare workers. She says rationing care and planning for life or death decisions is taking its toll on many staff.
While medical professionals are trained to deal with bad outcomes, Hinz says nothing prepared them for this.
"The magnitude and the frequency and the severity of all of those bad outcomes has really just been ratcheted up"
As of Friday morning, 117 people were in Saskatchewan ICUs.
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) says an overwhelmed critical care system is leading to burnout across the country.
"It is much worse in provinces like Saskatchewan where healthcare providers feel gas-lighted, lied to by government and not as if their concerns are being taken seriously,” said CMA president Dr. Katharine Smart.
In the summer, physicians penned a letter to government calling for greater restrictions.
In mid-September, the province reintroduced the mask mandate while announcing proof of vaccination requirements. Premier Scott Moe has since said the government should have brought those measures in two weeks sooner.
"I worry about how people are going to get through this time and who's going to leave,” said NDP leader Ryan Meili.
“We can't spare any of these doctors or any of these nurses, and yet people are going to be so burnt out they're not going to want to continue to practice."
The Saskatchewan Health Authority and Saskatchewan Medical Association are offering resources for workers, including a peer support program.
Hinz says it's encouraging to see supports, but it shouldn't have come to this.
“That moral distress and that burnout would certainly be a lot easier to prevent in the first place than trying to treat it,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Person engulfed in flames outside N.Y. courthouse where Trump trial underway, says CNN
A person was covered in flames outside the New York courthouse where former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial is underway, CNN reported on Friday.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
Senators reject field trip to African Lion Safari amid elephant bill study
The Senate legal affairs committee has rejected a motion calling for members to take a $50,000 field trip to the African Lion Safari in southern Ontario to see the zoo's elephant exhibit.
CFIA monitoring for avian flu in Canadian dairy cattle after U.S. discoveries
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is encouraging veterinarians to keep an eye out for signs of avian influenza in dairy cattle following recent discoveries of cases of the disease in U.S. cow herds.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
DEVELOPING G7 warns of new sanctions against Iran as world reacts to apparent Israeli drone attack
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
Vancouver firefighter in rehab at home after losing leg to flesh-eating infection overseas
A family trip took a frightening turn for Christopher Won when he was diagnosed with flesh-eating disease while in Hong Kong and now, after weeks of treatment overseas, the Vancouver firefighter is back home recovering.