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KENTVILLE, N.S. —

The head of the Valley Regional Hospital emergency department wants to reassure the public that they are open and physician shifts are being filled.

Dr. Lois Bowden, the Nova Scotia Health Authority’s (NSHA) head of the Valley Regional Hospital (VRH) emergency department and VRH medical site lead, is also a practicing emergency room physician.

She requested an interview in response to media reports about the decisions of Dr. Rob Miller, Dr. Rebecca Brewer and Dr. Keith MacCormick to – partially or completely – leave the VRH emergency department in February.

According to a recent column by the Herald’s Paul Schneidereit, the bottom line is that “the three feel improving patient care – something they’re passionate about – has taken a back seat to bureaucracy under Nova Scotia Health Authority leadership.”

Bowden said she wants to reassure the public that apart from the “highly visible withdrawal of the three doctors and the change in their work venue,” the emergency department is still open and shifts are being filled.

“We, as a multi-disciplinary team at Valley Regional, are providing compassionate, dignified care within our emergency department, and which for myself personally I have never found to be unsafe,” Bowden said. “Chaotic, yes. Overcrowded, yes. Ideal, no, but not unsafe.”

For eight hours a day, the department has a “triple coverage” shift where there is a third emergency physician on duty. Currently, there are four triple coverage shifts near the end of February yet to be filled and triple coverage shifts throughout March haven’t been filled. All core shifts until the end of March are filled.

“I would say to people, if you think you need to be here, we want to see you,” Bowden said.

Moving forward, she said, the remaining shifts would be filled by members of a wider community network of emergency physicians. Some will come from Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Middleton, others from the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax and the Hants Community Hospital in Windsor.

She said there would also be some local internist specialists working some of the triple coverage shifts. Two intend to stay in the Annapolis Valley once their training is completed, she added.

Bowden said there are two new physicians coming in July and she recently gave tours to two physician couples being recruited from the United Kingdom by the NSHA. Bowden said two of the physicians want to work in the emergency department.

A welcoming event for 12 new family doctors who have come to the Valley within the last year to 18 months is being organized for late January.

“We’re always focusing on new people coming and succession planning for what’s happening,” Bowden said.

EXTERNAL REVIEW

With regard to an external review of the VRH’s emergency department by Dr. Howard Ovens and Heather Campbell released in November, Bowden said a highlight of the feedback from her perspective was that “it commented on what a creative, innovative department we are.”

“Reviews always have recommendations, and we had 25,” she said.

She said the majority have already been addressed but seven would take long-term work over several months. Two are “beyond the control” of the emergency department. Bowden said these are Department of Health and Wellness and NSHA senior level projects that need to be completed.

She said a lot of the work they’ve done over the last few years in the department is “aimed at picking the sick people out of the waiting room.” They practice triage to determine the order in which patients are seen. In other words, the worst cases are treated first.

Bowden said to help mitigate the risk of a patient in need of immediate care having to wait too long, a waiting room nurse has been assigned. The nurse circulates continuously, reassessing patients.

She said they have also established a patient streaming unit or rapid assessment zone so that 50 per cent of emergency room visitors are seen within an hour. Within three hours, 90 per cent are seen.

However, Bowden said that on any given day there could be a car accident or multiple patients suffering heart attacks, for example. This results in backlogs and longer wait times for patients who aren’t in such a dire situation.

Bowden likens the emergency department team to a family pulling together to weather a storm. She said even the housekeeping staff and security guards are very helpful, especially with admitted patients.

Kirk.starratt@kingscountynews.ca

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