Children’s Hospital lull keeps surgery slate full

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This article was published 19/12/2022 (736 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Health Sciences Centre Children’s Hospital has avoided widespread surgery cancellations thanks to a lull in critical illness.

Only one elective surgery was cancelled last week, and previously announced plans for mass postponements of surgical slates are on the back burner, hospital officials announced Tuesday, saying the situation has improved.

As of Tuesday morning, there were 17 patients in the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital in Winnipeg. Last week, that number peaked at 23. The unit is designed to have nine patients.

There were 47 patients in the neonatal ICU, which is designed for 50 babies. Four of the current patients would normally be in the pediatric ICU.

“Things are better than they were last week at Children’s Hospital, but this doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet,” said Dr. Patricia Birk, department head of pediatrics and child health, and provincial specialty medical lead of pediatrics and child health for Shared Health.

Birk held a virtual news conference Tuesday with Dr. Karen Gripp, Children’s Hospital emergency department medical director and section head of pediatric emergency medicine. Both doctors compared the current situation to being “in the eye of the hurricane.”

Last week, HSC chief operating officer Dr. Shawn Young announced plans to postpone non-urgent children’s surgeries and reduce surgical slates to two from five in order to reassign nurses to intensive care patients. The postponements were set to begin Dec. 15 and continue into the new year.

Birk said Tuesday that plan was for the worst-case scenario. The hospital re-evaluated its patient flow metrics and worked with surgeons and physicians to avoid postponing more surgeries.

Cancellations are still on the table if necessary.

However, Birk said: “We will make every attempt not to cancel surgeries. All of our contingency planning continues to occur, so that we’re ready if there is an uptick again. This is good news, but as Dr. Gripp stated last week, I think we’re in the eye of the storm.”

Fewer children are showing up in the ER compared to last month’s record-high patient volumes, but those who are there are very sick. More than half are being triaged as having mid to high levels of sickness, Gripp said.

She said most ER patients aren’t being lab tested for influenza, but are being diagnosed with flu-like symptoms. So far in December, the children’s ER has logged an average of about 136 daily visits, compared with 170 daily visits in November.

“We’re grateful for a bit of a lull… we’re still very early in our typical respiratory virus season,” Gripp said.

Holiday gatherings present an urgent concern, and Gripp warned levels of respiratory virus could explode and potentially mutate if people don’t stay home when they’re sick and take extra precautions for newborns not yet eligible for vaccination.

“A week after Christmas, things could be quite significant and severe,” Gripp said.

Health officials are also bracing for the arrival of the Influenza B strain in Manitoba. So far, all detected flu cases have been the A strain. The B strain is typically harder to contract but causes more severe illness.

This year’s flu shot offers good protection against both strains, and people who’ve already had the flu this year can still get influenza B, officials said.

Worst-case scenario, the Children’s Hospital could mark similar patient volumes because of that strain of the flu later this winter, Gripp said.

“We could be looking at a significant rise in acuity of patients needing intensive care, of patients needing breathing support, and we need to be prepared for that.”

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Katie May
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Katie May is a general-assignment reporter for the Free Press.

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