As health authorities struggle to deal with recruiting and retaining doctors and nurses, a local doctor spoke out about the abuse of the emergency room at the Weyburn General Hospital, and said this sort of occurrence leads to doctor burnout and further difficulties in recruiting new doctors.

Dr. Boyd Stewart spoke on behalf of the Weyburn and District Medical Association after receiving an article from the Ontario Medical Review, which describes doctors in such facilities as the ER as a "vending machine", as ERs are often misused by the public.

The problem here is that patients come in to the Emergency with non-emergency problems, usually ones they should be making an appointment to see their doctor about in his or her office, said Dr. Stewart.

"It's an emergency room, and people quite unashamedly admit it's not an emergency when they come in," he said, noting a lot of people have a minor problem they want treated and come in just because the ER is open.

The problem for the doctors' side is, they are there to treat genuine emergencies, and if a person's problem needs more investigation or tests, such as through a lab or with X-rays, these are not possible as those technicians are not at the hospital 24/7, but during normal operating hours.

"People often say they don't have time to see their doctor; they say, 'I work'. There's lots of problems with that. It's convenient for them (to come in to the ER) but it's not convenient for us. If it's a true emergency, then it makes sense to come in, I have no problem with that," said Dr. Stewart. "But if someone sprains an ankle, they delay going to a doctor, and then come in late in the evening to get treated. What do they think we're going to do for them? There's no lab or X-ray facilities at that time of night."

In the article from the Ontario Medical Review, the author, Dr. Ted Osmun, notes that people think if a doctor is "on call" at 10 o'clock at night, that means they're available for any kind of medical call, when in fact they are only there if there is a real medical emergency.

"This demand for instant attention causes problems in rural areas where there are fewer physicians. Rural medicine is currently witnessing the collision of many societal forces. The demand for instant service is destroying the dedicated men and women who provide care, and a culture of complaint encourages petty actions against those who do not comply with the public's wishes," said Dr. Osmun.

In Weyburn, the problem is much the same as oftentimes a person will nurse a hurt or an injury for a few days or a week, and then decide to seek out medical help late at night.

If tests are needed, such as blood samples, or an X-ray is needed to see if a bone is broken, for example, it would be prohibitively expensive to recall these technicians from home to provide treatment, particularly if the problem is not a true medical emergency but was one that could've waited for a doctor's visit.

"It's incredibly inconvenient and it's expensive; there's a cost to bring staff back for these services," said Dr. Stewart. "We'd love to have a CATscan in Weyburn, it would be very nice to have one here, but there's a cost to these things."

The doctor wanted it understood that he doesn't mean people should not come in to the ER if they feel that there is a true medical emergency, or their health or safety is at risk. The problem is that many people come in only because it's at a more convenient time for them.

Dr. Stewart noted if a person has a problem with a car, they don't try calling a mechanic at 10 p.m. in the evening; even if they work, they take their car and get it taken care of, and a medical problem should be no different.

"We've asked the health region what can be done about this, if there should be some sort of campaign. People need education there's also a shortage of doctors. The problem is it's wearing doctors out, and they're getting tired of this. We're having trouble attracting new guys to places like Weyburn. At the Saskatchewan Medical Association, we discuss this all the time; how do you get new young grads to come to cities like Weyburn? In the big cities, you go home at 5 o'clock and you're done every single night. We don't have that luxury."

Dr. Stewart noted he's even seen residents come up here from Radville because they didn't want to bother the doctors there.

He warned that if doctors don't see an improvement in how people use the ER, they may get tired of it and leave for a larger centre, or just quit the medical profession altogether.

"That's the danger we're facing here," he said.

As Dr. Osmun concluded, "Physicians in rural Canada need a break. We need more support from our communities in our fight for better services and access to specialized care."