1 in 10 emergency physicians leaving Canadian ERs, national survey suggests
A national survey reveals that 10% of Canadian emergency physicians have left the specialty, while many others are reducing hours due to severe burnout. The study highlights systemic issues in the healthcare sector, noting that the crisis is not merely a pandemic-related phenomenon.
Why it matters
The exodus of emergency medical staff threatens the stability of the healthcare system and directly impacts patient safety and wait times.
The Vancouver-based physician has given patients she just met a cancer diagnosis, with little privacy in the middle of a noisy room. She's cared for a man with an intracranial brain bleed on an ambulance stretcher in a hallway. And she can't shake the memory of one patient who had septic shock after spending eight hours in a waiting room, dangerously close to death.
Those kinds of harrowing experiences take a toll on emergency physicians, Stockton said, and there have been too many to count. At least five of her colleagues have left in the last few years.
Now, a new national survey shows the problem goes beyond any one hospital or province.
One out of every 10 emergency physicians in Canada have left their specialty while the vast majority of others are reducing their hours or taking time off to manage burnout, the results suggest.
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