Royal Inland Hospital

(BRENDAN KERGIN / iNFOnews.ca)

A nurse in Kamloops is on medical leave due to mental stress caused by chronic understaffing at her workplace, Royal Inland Hospital.

She wants the province to do something to improve the current working environment, which she said is dangerous.

The nurse has been in the field for more than 10 years, all at RIH. She is not being identified due to potential repercussions from her employer.

“The first year or two working there was okay,” she said. “We would miss the occasional break here and there. The last two years have been a nightmare where we only have time to run for a pee break or stuff some food in our faces because we cannot safely leave our patients. I recently burned out mentally and my doctor told me I had to take a break.”

The nurse is sharing her story after an incident related to understaffing at the same hospital was reported by a fellow nurse last week, and said they were working on a ratio of 11 patients to one nurse. The nurses reported reiterated a familiar call for years — that hospitals in the southern Interior are understaffed, a situation that was further compromised by the pandemic, and then again by vaccination mandates. 

READ MORE:Nurse reports understaffing incident and continued burnout at Kamloops hospital

The nurse said it is common to work twelve hour shifts without any breaks, to work on units with inadequate numbers of nurses and to sometimes work four added hours beyond the end of a shift. She said the job is physically and mentally exhausting.

“A lot of nurses will volunteer to stay later if the unit is not doing well and an extra body is needed, even when they are way too tired and their problem solving skills are not super great," she said. "We care about our patients but these are unsafe scenarios for everyone involved. Quite a few nurses are on medical leave due to burnout.”

The nurse said during her few years at the hospital she has had three or four managers come and go.

“I assume it is because it is too much for them,” she said. “They have such a big portfolio that it is not manageable. I understand why they can’t keep them there."

The nurse said voicing complaints about the working conditions typically falls on deaf ears.

“We are told to just ‘hang in there’ and ‘it is going to get better’,” she said. “There is generally a lack of transparency from management and there is too much of a gap between frontline staff and higher levels of management.”

READ MORE: Mandatory vaccines for nurses making hospitals even more unsafe: union

The nurse said managing COVID creates many safety processes and protocols that further slow down activities, and she fears a lot of older staff will be retiring soon.

The nurse wants the province to supply more nurses and improve conditions to retain the ones who are currently working. She wants more transparency and communication between nurses and higher management.

“I feel like it makes it more stressful that we cannot safely voice our concerns about our working conditions,” she said. “I have gone home in tears from emotion and mental injuries, we are not doing okay. The worst feeling is to go home after giving only the bare necessities to patients. That is not why we became nurses.”

She said she is finding a lot of support among other nurses faced with the same challenges and sees some hope from the younger, newer nurses.

“The young ones seem to be a bit louder and say ‘no’ more often when they feel their boundaries are being crossed,” she said. “We are so used to just taking it because it is our duty. A lot of them choose casual work so they have more control over their schedules.”

The nurse said after taking medical leave for a few weeks due to anxiety and fatigue, she is now starting to feel better and intends to go back to work soon.

“I am still very tired,” she said. “I get regular phone messages asking me to work because they are short. I have to go back because I love helping others and being part of people’s lives. This time I am going to focus on being a better model for self-care and putting ourselves first."

She said changes need to be made in order for nurses to fulfill provincial professional standards.

“I would say to new nurses to be strong and be aware of your practice,” she said. “You have to be strong enough to put your foot down and protect yourselves, your personal health and the practice that you are responsible for.”

Tracey Rannie, executive director at Royal Inland Hospital, said the hospital is experiencing staffing challenges but “there’s a lot of folks working on recruitment and retention and the staff work hard every day to provide safe patient care.”

Interior Health is facing challenges across all jurisdictions in B.C., she said. 

“Sometimes nurses will stay over a 12-hour shift to assist with patient care,” but Rannie said nurses are not required to stay unless in an emergency situation or to confirm who is present at shift change.

“And that’s a very rare occurrence,” she said.

In an email to iNFOnews, the Interior Health Authority said it is closely working with the Ministry of Health and other health authorities to address understaffing challenges.

"We continue to work to attract to people to (Royal Inland Hospital) and are committed to fill our current vacancies," the organization said. "Our volumes in Kamloops have increased, Interior Health invested $1 million in additional emergency department staff to support our existing staff members."

Interior Health said it created a specialized team at Royal Inland Hospital to work through staffing challenges and identify solutions.

"We have also established a dedicated recruitment team for RIH which will streamline the hiring process and shorten the time needed to fill vacant positions," it said. "The hospital continues to offer specialty training to staff who want to move into the emergency department.

"Since January 1, 2021, the hospital has hired nearly 200 nurses and 41 student nurses. In addition, we expect to add more licensed practical nurses when Sprott Shaw nurses graduate in late November."

The authority said it appreciates all health care workers at Royal Inland Hospital and across Interior Health for the care and compassion they show each day to patients and families.

The B.C. Nurses Union has not yet responded to requests for comment or information.

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