Alberta doctors hope new E.R. triage physician role is properly resourced

Thursday, the province announced a new triage physician liaison to help alleviate “extreme pressures” faced by hospitals.

The Alberta government said the pilot will start Feb. 1, in Edmonton and Calgary hospitals.

To launch the new role quickly, the position will be filled by existing doctors in the system.

Chief medical officer of Acute Care Alberta, Aaron Low, said the province will work on recruitment for the long-term.

“It’s a physician who will work alongside the triage nurses and in many cases, provide the beginning of care with patients in the waiting room,” Low said.

“This will better stratify what patients need to be seeing sooner and can’t afford to wait.”

Alberta doctors do support this move.

Emergency room physician Dr. Louis Francescutti said it will mean earlier risk stratification for high-acuity or subtle presentations, earlier orders for labs, ECG and imaging.

This would also pull diagnostic turnaround forward. He said this physician could also help improve patient flow and reduce bottlenecks.

Francescutti also stresses the need for proper resources.

This is also echoed by president-elect of the section of emergency medicine with the Alberta Medical Association, Dr. Paul Parks.

Dr. Parks said it was a step forward to hear the province acknowledge there are “extreme pressures” in hospitals, but the province can’t stop there.

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“It’s a really old band-aid that is covering a big, gaping wound,” Parks said.

He said the ER workforce is already overworked — and understaffed.

“You’re going to ask them to step up and do more and go out and do extra shifts and do a really difficult job. To walk into a waiting room, and find and care for patients with very limited resources. It has to be funded and resourced properly,” he said.

“Ultimately if you don’t have beds or places to put those very sick people and do that piece, then you’re just identifying sick people there’s not very much you can do.”

The province said a similar program was piloted 20 years ago in Edmonton.

At that time, it showed the potential to significantly reduce emergency department length of stay and the number of patients leaving without being seen.

However, no permanent funding source was available to continue the program.

“Acute Care Alberta is confident that this provincewide investment will deliver similar benefits for patients and the health system,” the province said in a statement.

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