New Manitoba Nursing Graduate Frustrated After First Hand Experience As A Country Patient – Winnipeg
A recently graduated nurse from Manitoba finds herself on the other side of her profession as a patient, and she calls the experience a nightmare.
“It was a whole new perspective to be on this side of things,” says Carla Chrisp as she lies in her hospital bed.
Chrisp was at her graduation party with her fellow nursing students near Gimli when she heard her leg break.
“I was bending down to use a laptop sitting on a chair when I heard a click. I looked down and my ankle just flopped around.”
The 30-year-old was taken to Gimli Hospital where she was told she had broken her tibia and fibula. Four days later, she is still waiting at the rural hospital to be transferred to Winnipeg for surgery.
“Every day it’s been, ‘There’s no chance you’re going today,’ and every day I ask, ‘Is there any hope for tomorrow?'”
While she waits, she is given morphine every two hours for the pain and contacts her family who live more than an hour away in Lundar.
She says the experience has opened her eyes to what she calls problems in Manitoba’s health care system.
“I feel like I’m educated enough to know what to defend for myself, but I feel so terrible for patients and people not involved in health care.”
The Interlake Eastern Health Authority says they don’t keep records of hospital transfer times.
“It looks like our health care system is failing us and I want to do better for our county,” Chrisp says.
Shared Health says there has been a significant number of orthopedic trauma surgeries in the province in the past four days, requiring patients to be prioritized by surgical teams based on medical need.
“We appreciate how shocking the postponement of surgical procedures can be, especially those who are in pain from injury,” Shared Health said in a statement.
“All four Winnipeg locations capable of handling these types of injuries were busy handling trauma cases over the weekend. Grace Hospital, in particular, was very busy completing nine orthopedic trauma cases. Another 15 cases were reviewed at the Grace Monday morning, with the most medically urgent cases for today, while others were scheduled for Tuesday or later in the week.
It usually says that the wait for this type of surgery can be one to two weeks.
Meanwhile, Chrisp’s extended hospital stay has forced her to reschedule her final nursing license exam.
She says the experience has made her realize how important her profession is and that she will take it with her into her future workplace.
