by catherine varner
as anti-vaxx protests continue in front of hospitals across canada, emergency physicians are saying enough is enough and leaving their profession behind.
according to the
canadian association of emergency physicians
, a staffing shortfall has been in the making for years but the challenges of the pandemic have doctors exiting the profession at an accelerated pace, leaving hospitals already struggling with nursing shortages in yet another staffing crunch.
in december, kari sampsel, an emergency physician in ottawa, took a leave of absence after 20 years in the profession. “the unsolvable problems are getting worse and worse, and no one is coming to help us fix them,” she says.
while sampsel cites the ever-increasing pressures of crowding, boarded patients and lack of mental health and primary care services as reasons for her departure, it is the feeling that she and her colleagues are undervalued by patients, the hospital and the health-care system that ultimately has driven her out.
“the level of vitriol, abuse, frustration and anger that is hurled at us from all corners is untenable,” says sampsel. “i do not want to go to work to get spat at, punched or kicked. i don’t expect to be called a hero, but not being treated like a human being is a deal breaker.”
alan drummond, co-chair of public affairs for the canadian association of emergency physicians, says the shortage of emergency physicians has been building for a decade. in 2016, a report by the
collaborative working group on the future of emergency medicine in canada
estimated a workforce deficit of roughly 1,500 emergency physicians by 2025. in other words, canada would be missing more than 20 per cent of its necessary workforce to staff emergency departments across the country.