Emergency Work
The Emergency department shifts are 12 hours in length, 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and 8:00 pm to 8:00 am. Physicians see all northern patients (from the 25 communities we service) who present to the emergency department. In order to maintain a balance between work and home life, physicians who are pre-call are encouraged to leave at noon and post-call are encouraged to leave at 10:00 am.
We also field phone calls from tertiary care hospitals wishing to return patients, air ambulance, tertiary care specialists, etc. as required. Patients who are admitted through emergency are then followed as inpatients by the physician on subsequent days. The emergency physician also reviews lab work that doesn't have an available physician for review.
Also during the 12 hour emergency shifts, we provide ongoing support and advice by phone to the northern nurses in the communities we service.
On days following an ER shift, physicians will often receive results from labs which were initiated during the shift, or follow-up patients who need to be reevaluated on subsequent days.