Emergency room

Vous trouverez dans cette page :

• Avant d’aller à l’urgence
• Si vous devez aller à l'urgence
• Triage à l’urgence
• De quelle façon est déterminée la priorité?
• Pourquoi faut-il attendre longtemps à certaines occasions?

Before going to the emergency department

• Call Info-Santé by dialing 811. If the Info-Santé nurse recommends going to the emergency department, go to the one closest to your homes.
• Consult your pharmacist. They can help relieve your symptoms by suggesting an over-the-counter medication suited to your health situation.

For a non-urgent health problem, here are some consultation options:

• If you have a family doctor, contact your clinic to get an appointment quickly.
• If you don’t have a family doctor, you can contact a clinic that offers medical consultations for patients who are not registered. To find resources available near you, consult the directory of resources and select the region: Bas-Saint-Laurent.

If you must go to the emergency department

Bring:

• Your health insurance card
• Your hospital card
• Your medications and/or a list of medications
• Clothes for your return home
   

Triage in the emergency department

As a result of patient volume, patients must be treated according to priority level.

Upon arrival at the emergency department, whether you come on your own or by ambulance, you’ll be seen by a nurse. The nurse will complete a questionnaire, take your vital signs and gather important information about your health status and the level of urgency of your case.

Based on the information collected and the CTAS method (Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale), you will be assigned a level from 1 to 5 according to the priority of your health situation and be directed to the appropriate treatment area before being evaluated by a doctor.

How is priority determined?

The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale includes the following five levels:

Level 1 – Resuscitation

• Immediate care by a doctor and nurse
• A situation that threatens life or survival
   

Level 2 – Very urgent

• A medical condition requiring immediate nursing evaluation and rapid care by a doctor
• A situation that could worsen without intervention
   

Level 3 – Urgent

• Immediate nursing evaluation
• A situation requiring short-term intervention
   

Level 4 – Less urgent

• A health condition requiring a doctor’s intervention or advice
• The patient can wait some time without risk to their health
   

Level 5 – Non-urgent

• A health condition whose investigation can be delayed without risk of immediate deterioration
• The patient wishes to receive a service normally provided by a walk-in medical clinic
   

Why do wait times sometimes become long?

Major emergencies can occur and disrupt activities. For example, a patient in cardiac arrest or a patient with multiple traumatic injuries may require the full attention of the team for several minutes or even several hours.

Patients lying on stretchers are generally prioritized, which requires time from the emergency doctor.

• For a health problem, the emergency department is open 24/7, except for the Mont-Joli emergency department (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.(Monday to Friday), 8 a.m. to 4 p.m (Saturday and Sunday).