Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
An ambulance crash is raising concerns about the work-related fatigue faced by rural paramedics.
Their union says exhausted emergency workers are working on-shift or on standby too many hours, or even days, in a row.
It’s a scenario that’s putting patients, the public and paramedics at risk, says the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union.
"We’re very thankful that no one was harmed in this incident," said Wayne Chacun, a component director with the union who represents paramedics.
"Our fear is that someone will be killed in a future incident if this doesn’t change."
RCMP confirm that an ambulance rolled over on Highway 16, about 10 kilometres east of Neepawa, on Tuesday around 6:45 a.m.
The ambulance wound up in the ditch, but no patient was on board.
The two paramedics in the ambulance were wearing their seatbelts and weren’t hurt.
RCMP continue to investigate, but MGEU officials report that one of the paramedics had fallen asleep at the wheel.
The Swan River-based paramedics had transferred a patient to Winnipeg and were on their way back when they crashed.
Chacun said they had worked a 12-hour shift in their station on Saturday and were then on standby for 12 hours overnight.
They then worked another 12-hour shift at the station on Sunday, followed by another 24 hours on standby.
During standby on Monday, their pagers went off several times, Chacun said, and they were back on shift by 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.
They were then sent on the transfer and left Swan River at 10 p.m. They’re not allowed to sleep on-shift, so they would have been up all night and left Winnipeg around 5 a.m., exhausted.
"Basically, since Saturday morning they’ve had their pager on and either been working or on standby, prepared to go in and being woken up by the pager," Chacun said.
It’s a scenario that’s common in rural areas, Chacun said, and there are people who have worked 96 to 100 straight hours either on-shift or on standby.
He has heard many stories from the weary.
One paramedic once told him that she’d slept for only eight hours within a span of 60 hours. Another worked 43 of 48 hours and was reprimanded by an employer for wanting to take time off for sleep.
Another paramedic reported driving and hallucinating that there were people on the road because he was tired.
Chacun, a Virden-based paramedic, said the longest he has gone without sleep is 25 hours. He once crashed an ambulance due to fatigue.
He said the province needs to supply more money to RHAs to hire more paramedics so there can be more regular shifts and less standby.
Currently, there’s no legislation to restrict the hours paramedics work, Chacun said. The union wants legislation that would cap the length of a shift at 16 hours to be followed by eight hours of uninterrupted rest.
The union has made the issue a priority, Chacun said, and pressed it hard with the province and RHAs since spring of 2010.
Without change, he said, there’s a risk that someone will be killed in a crash, or fatigue will lead paramedics to make an error with medication or treatment for a patient.
The executive director of health emergency management for Manitoba Health, Gerry Delorme, said the department is currently investigating the crash. It’s also working on the problem of paramedic fatigue.
"Fatigue is definitely a concern for us in emergency medical services," Delorme said.
The department is reviewing the emergency medical services system, he said, and working with the MGEU as it does so.
The EMS review is expected to be complete this fall.
The challenge is coming up with a solution that doesn’t compromise paramedic or patient safety, Delorme said.
For now, Delorme says paramedics should feel free to pull over and take a nap when they can. Or they can book a hotel room at the department’s expense.
The ambulance dispatch centre in Brandon and an RHA supervisor will call in staff, or bring in ambulances from other areas to cover.
"If a paramedic feels unsafe because they are tired, they’re unsafe," Delorme said. "They should stop what they’re doing and rest."
Despite the concerns, Delorme said the province’s ambulance fleet logs a total of more than seven million kilometres per year, and on average there’s less than one serious accident per year.
The paramedics involved in Tuesday’s crash are employed by the Western Regional Health Authority, which hadn’t responded to an interview request by press time.
» ihitchen@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition August 29, 2012
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An ambulance crash is raising concerns about the work-related fatigue faced by rural paramedics.
Their union says exhausted emergency workers are working on-shift or on standby too many hours, or even days, in a row.
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An ambulance crash is raising concerns about the work-related fatigue faced by rural paramedics.
Their union says exhausted emergency workers are working on-shift or on standby too many hours, or even days, in a row.
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Posted by:had1972
August 29, 2012 at 7:57 PM
had this been a truck driver he would have been put through the ringer for this
Posted by:Bill the Needle
August 29, 2012 at 12:30 PM
Union reps are always crying wolf so we don't know how literally to take this.