Overwhelmed, the emergency room in Nantes recently launched an appeal to the population in order to better regulate the treatment of patients and treat the most vital cases. As for children, the finding is the same: pediatric emergencies at the Nantes University Hospital have been crumbling under demand for several weeks. Five to six hours: this is the waiting period for a few days for people, excluding vital emergencies, who come to the pediatric department of the Nantes University Hospital.
“There is a traffic jam in the emergency room. The risk is not to take care of the children who really need it, ”repeats Christèle Gras-Le Guen, head of the pediatric service at the Nantes hospital and president of the French Pediatric Society. Currently, only 20% of children seen in the emergency room have been kept in hospital. The rest could have done without going to the emergency room.
“Lots of babies who are all sick at the same time”
So why such an overcrowding in pediatric emergencies? Firstly because of the winter epidemics, which are more intense this year. Especially bronchiolitis, which “happens earlier and is more intense”. After the various lockdowns in 2020 and health restrictions, many children have not been exposed to the viruses. “They hardly had bronchiolitis with the confinements and barrier gestures. Obviously, those who have not been infected have these viruses this year. So we end up with a lot of babies who are all sick at the same time. This is called immune debt, ”explains Dr Cécile Guiheneuf.
“And the Covid has disturbed everyone a bit. With parents who draw at the first symptoms ”. With the association of pediatricians of the Nantes region, she and about fifteen professionals have therefore decided to set up a permanence on weekends, in order to relieve the pediatric emergencies of the Nantes University Hospital. A unique number (0.222.444.050) has been in place for a week. A novelty in Nantes for parents wishing to make an appointment in case of need on weekends.
Beds closed at the slightest absence
These pediatricians therefore organize on-call duty on Saturdays, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays and holidays, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. They receive patients in their practices, without exceeding fees. An additional cog in a profession taken by storm by patients at the beginning of winter. “Especially since the teams are tired and we can no longer recruit. Recently, a nurse was unable to come and do her day, and we had to close six beds ”out of the 120 available in pediatrics in the emergency room in Nantes.
Hence the additional help provided by liberal pediatricians. “We are in the process of protecting the hospital. It is also necessary that people find good habits on therapeutic use ”, and in particular that of not necessarily going to the emergency room directly. Because pediatric emergencies should be reserved for severe cases, especially for babies under three months. There are other solutions if necessary: the general practitioner, SOS Médecins, medical centers on call or the 15th.