Overcrowded and understaffed emergency departments are in crisis across Canada, and all levels of the health system must take immediate action to address this urgent issue, argues an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Hospital staffing shortages and related bed closures, combined with high patient volumes and years of inaction to address problems, are stressing hospitals and health care workers.

“For physicians and nurses working in emergency departments in Canada, no end is in sight for growing patient volumes and crowding, and the demand for emergency care exceeds the capacity of emergency medicine health human resources in all regions of Canada, now and for the foreseeable future,” writes Dr. Catherine Varner, deputy editor, CMAJ, who is an emergency physician in Toronto, Ontario.

“This perpetual cycle is not news to most people in Canada, as it is pervasive, has lethal consequences and will continue to exhaust Canadian emergency services and providers,” she writes.

Although some attempts have been made to ease the pressure, such as virtual supports and coaching for rural and remote health care workers in British Columbia and Ontario, these measures are not enough.

“These attempts, while laudable, fall short of the necessary, system-wide response to the current crisis, which has been decades in the making and was predicted by emergency personnel and accelerated by the pandemic,” states Dr. Varner.

She urges immediate action to ensure access to care for patients, to build capacity for emergency services to offer care during external disasters, and to protect health care workers who bear the brunt of the burden of caring for extended high volumes of patients in the postpandemic period.