Posted: Jan 21, 2021 8:00 PM AT | Last Updated: January 22
While Summerside s Prince County Hospital has six ICU beds, just four are operational due to the nursing shortage. (Steve Bruce/CBC) comments
Health PEI says the province s two intensive care units are operating at reduced capacity, all as a result of a nurse staffing crunch.
According to the agency, only four of the six ICU beds at Summerside s Prince County Hospital are operational. That s because 9.6 of the 15.6 ICU nurse positions there are vacant.
At Charlottetown s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, just eight of the 10 ICU beds are open. The agency says between the ICU and the critical care unit, which share staff, there are 5.9 vacant nursing positions.
Barbara Brookins, president of the P.E.I. Nurses' Union, speaks with CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin about her new role and challenges facing nurses.
Posted: Jan 13, 2021 6:30 PM AT | Last Updated: January 13
Barbara Brookins, president of the PEI Nurses Union, says four or five nurses at a clinic could vaccinate a couple of hundred people in just one day. (Steve Bruce/CBC)