“Robot nurse: that’s our new name! » Auxiliary nurse Marie-Soleil Lévesque hardly jokes. For the past week, she has felt like she was starring in a science fiction film. And to be one of the main actresses. But she has both feet firmly anchored in reality.
Marie-Soleil Lévesque works in the new virtual care hospital unit at the Suroît hospital, located in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, in Montérégie. During her patient rounds, she wears an augmented reality headset. A nurse from the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal accompanies him virtually, in order to assess the patients (which an auxiliary nurse is not authorized to do). She sees everything that her colleague from Suroît observes through her lenses.
“We are with Julie, the nurse, on the phone,” explains Marie-Soleil Lévesque to a patient, seated in an armchair next to his hospital bed. “We wanted to know how things were going for you today. No pain? No shortness of breath either? »
The nursing assistant bends down to look at the patient’s legs – “we don’t have any swelling” – then approaches the catheter. “It’s in place with the date written on it. »
At the time of La Presse’s visit on Monday, five patients were hospitalized in the new virtual care unit at Suroît, which opened five days earlier. On their chest, a monitoring device that transmits vital signs (pulse, blood pressure, etc.) 24 hours a day to the Jewish General Hospital and their assigned nurse.
Denis Bray, 65, enjoys the virtual experience. “We end up in the hospital anyway,” says the construction contractor, who is suffering from pneumonia.
Technology enthusiast, Jorge Ortiz also considers his stay in the new unit for problems related to Crohn’s disease “very correct”.
Pauline Lajoie, 96, says for her part that she has difficulty hearing the nurse’s questions virtually. “The other [the auxiliary nurse] repeats what she heard and I can respond,” specifies, with a small hint of voice, the lady with the beautiful white mane, whose condition has deteriorated recently. “They took me in hand to treat me. »
The CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest recognizes this: the hospital virtual care unit was set up in two weeks to deal with a “crisis situation”.
The shortage of nurses is even more glaring since the implementation of new rules in Quebec aimed at limiting the use of independent labor (MOI).
“In the medicine and surgery units at Suroît, 50% of the nurses on evening shifts are independent workers,” explains Nancy Malenfant, director of hospital activities. At night, we are talking about 75% of uncovered positions, therefore covered by the MOI. »
By mid-May, the CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest had hired 80 people from placement agencies, including 49 nurses and practical nurses.
“With the virtual unit, we will be able to recover 20 beds, possibly also overcapacity beds,” estimates Dr. Mitchell Germain, head of the department of general medicine and deputy director of professional services at the Suroît hospital.
The Jewish General Hospital provides the nursing staff (see other tab). However, a nurse from Suroît must go to the unit twice a day to administer intravenous antibiotics to patients, for example, an act reserved for her profession.
“We had to choose models of antibiotics [given] every 12 hours rather than every 4 hours,” says Dr. Germain. We consulted our specialists, our microbiologists and the pharmacy. »
Patients must be in stable condition to stay in the new unit. They must also be able to give their consent – they can refuse to go. Therefore, no cases presenting cognitive impairment or delirium.
According to Dr. Germain, these groups of patients “represent a very large majority” of patients seen in emergency departments.
For the staff of this Suroît unit, this is a small revolution. The hospital has moved from the era of fax machines and paper files to that of augmented reality headsets.
Nursing assistants save time by no longer manually taking patients’ vital signs. But they must carry out their usual tasks (like giving medicine) while learning to master new technologies.
The patients are, however, “less heavy,” according to beneficiary attendant Myriam Lévesque (sister of Marie-Soleil). “We run less, we have more time to spend with them, to make them walk. » Doctors continue to make their visits in person. They communicate with the nurse by telephone.
The president of the Union of Healthcare Professionals of Montérégie-Ouest (FIQ-SPSMO), Mélanie Gignac, takes a “favorable view” of this initiative, but remains “vigilant”. “Patients will have to be properly chosen to go there,” she says.
The CISSS ensures that patient safety remains the priority. And the human warmth in all this? “The attendants are present, the auxiliary nurses are also present,” replies Pamela Arnott, assistant director of nursing. A physiotherapist or social worker can come to the patient’s bedside if necessary. “You might think that with the glasses and the screen, it takes away the human side, but at the same time, they have the human warmth of other professionals. »