By Richard Coffin
Tuesday, Aug. 13th, 2024
A new peer-reviewed study warns Ontario’s hospital workers, including those locally, are in turmoil as they deal with an intensifying staffing crisis that is harming their well-being and compromising patient care.
Research for the study ‘Running on Empty’ is based on extensive interviews with 26 hospital workers including nurses, personal support workers, housekeepers and clerical staff.
“They expressed a profound sense of dissatisfaction, despair, sorrow, anger, and frustration about their working conditions and the quality of patient care,” says Dr. Margaret Keith, co-author. “There was an overarching sense of being unsupported, overworked, and disrespected, which is being driven by chronic underfunding and understaffing.”
She adds Ontario ranks at or near the bottom of the country in key healthcare funding measures and has the lowest per-person hospital spending of any province, with 18 per cent less hospital staff compared to the rest of Canada.
The study says worsening working conditions and surging patient volumes without a sufficient increase in staffing is leading to workers taking care of more patients and working overtime, causing exhaustion and burnout.
They also say quality of care is being impacted.
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