In March of 2023, while skiing in Jasper, I crashed into a chairlift post at full speed, dead on. Needless to say, I do not ski anymore. I woke up with my friends hovering around me while the ski patrol prepared to take me down the mountain. I was put into an ambulance and driven to the local emergency room, where they told me I had broken my leg; I got a cast, crutches, and the instruction to leave it on for 8 weeks and then check in with a doctor back home. Instead, my parents took me to an orthopaedic specialist as soon as I got home; away from the rush and stress of the emergency room, the specialist found that I had partially torn the ACL in my other leg (and should have been in a wheelchair rather than using crutches), a bone chip floating around in my knee, and a severe hematoma in my arm that had lacerated the fat protecting the muscle there – an injury which could have forever impacted the functionality of my arm if not treated. In addition to that, they did an x-ray of my broken leg and found that the cast hadn’t been set properly – the break in my bone had gotten worse and [GH1] required surgery. Two out of three injuries I accrued went completely ignored with one being improperly dealt with as a result of overstimulation in Canadian emergency rooms. Incidents like this happen more likely than we would like to think in emergency medicine Moreover, the average wait times in ERs all across Canada is astounding: fifteen-plus hours, with only 23% of patients being admitted before hitting the eight-hour mark in 2023. To many Canadians, this seems completely unacceptable – it is understandably frustrating to be told one needs to wait for urgent care. However, the sobering reality of the mental strain ER physicians face must be taken into consideration when discussing how to improve emergent care in Canada. [GH2]
Burnout is defined as the exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration. A doctor’s job is stressful, this is a universal truth. Holding the health of another person in one’s hands is a big responsibility. However, the severity of stress faced by Canadian emergency physicians is often forgotten, and they go unsupported because of it. Emergency physicians do not get the luxury of time. The state of emergency rooms is always high-paced, high-stakes, and stressful. ER physicians must identify issues and create treatment plans in a matter of minutes for an unbelievably wide variety of patients[GH3] . Furthermore, ER physicians must be emotionally tough enough to effectively deal with the injuries they witness on a regular basis or to[GH4] make snap judgements that severely impact a patient’s health – positively or negatively. Additionally, an essential part of being a doctor is interactions with patients and their loved ones. Due to stress and anxiety in ERs, physicians are often forced to deal with aggressive, hostile, and at times violent, individuals all while treating injuries that require the utmost focus, and maintaining a professional composure. The mental toll that this would take is massive – unimaginable for the average person. Considering these factors – and more – it is no surprise that long wait times and insufficient amounts of doctors to preform quality work is afflicting Canadian emergency rooms – factors which only worsened after the Covid-19 pandemic. All this to say: there is an epidemic among ER doctors that they are not supported to treat: burnout.
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