By Chad Klassen

Wait times at RIH expected to drop with new anesthesiologists

Apr 21, 2016 | 4:20 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s been a frustrating few years for surgeons and patients at Royal Inland Hospital. There have been many cancelled surgeries, despite having an available operating room, which has sat empty because of a shortage of anesthesiologists. 

But that empty OR will soon be put to use with three new anesthetists joining the hospital full-time in September.

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“This is going to be a big deal at the hospital,” says Chief of Anesthesiology Dr. John Guy. “We’re going to be able to open an additional elective operating room per day, and that will mean another 1,000 cases per year that are done at Royal Inland Hospital.”

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One anesthetist from the U.S. is already in Kamloops, and has been working as a locum. Two more, one from Nova Scotia and the other from South Africa, will be here soon after a trial period at RIH. 

“We had these people here for a short period and work with us for a week or two, and they really liked working here, they liked the city and we were able to convince them to stay,” says Dr. Guy. 

Chief of Surgery at RIH, Dr. David Omahen, who’s a neurosurgeon by trade, says the addition of three anesthetists allows the hospital to run at full capacity. 

According to the Health Ministry, there are close to 3,000 people in the region waiting for surgery at Royal Inland Hospital, and wait times are down to around six months. 

With the anesthetists, those wait times will be even less.

“Hopefully we’ll see a drop in wait times,” he says. “With limited acccess to the operating room, there tends to be a build-up of patients waiting for surgery, and hopefully this will help us reduce the wait times.”

Dr. Omahen says the lack of anesthetists has had a major trickle down effect in terms of how many surgeons the hospital is able to attract. 

“In Kamloops, we have four neurosurgeons now. We could easily have enough patients for a fifth neurosurgeon or possibly even a sixth,” says Dr. Omahen. “The limiting fact there is the access to the operating room, and that’s where the new anestheologists will be very helpful.”

He says it will make attraction and retention of surgeons easier, surgeons who may have otherwise not seen Kamloops an viable destination to practice.

“We have really good talent, the hospital tends to fly under the radar, but I’m hopeful with more OR time, and hopefully with the new surgical tower, we can actually get the surgeons we need for the community and keep the wait times at a reasonable level.”