Our health system is struggling: what I see as a doctor at the frontlines of a health traffic jam

This column is an opinion by Dr. Chris Christensen, a pediatric resident completing his training at the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital in Saskatoon. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

On my way to a 24-hour shift at the hospital, I watched a traffic jam form at the entrance to the parking area. 

A driver in the front mistakenly tried to enter the staff parking lot. The gate wouldn't rise. Unfortunately, another car pulled in behind, then another, and soon there were 10,000 pounds of steel between the driver and an exit. 

We all waited, in various stages of patience, for the conga line of reversing vehicles to shimmy backward. 

It seemed so obvious: there are two lanes, one for visitors and one for staff. All you need to do is follow the signs. But what's obvious to me may not be obvious to others. The issue isn't with the individual drivers — it's a problem with the traffic system and flow itself." 

I know where I'm going because I've been here before. I have both the training and knowledge to look ahead. 

But those signs are easy to miss if you've never been here before. Look up at the wrong time and you'll soon be trapped at a metal barrier with problems piling up behind you.

As I enter Saskatoon's children hospital for my shift, I'll see a reflection of that same traffic jam.

I'll be greeted by colleagues who have been working through the weekend, keeping the ward functional. Hopefully they've had a few hours sleep, though I doubt it. 

Our attending staff has likely been up all night as well, though they'll come in and work another six to eight hours. Weariness and irritability are setting in after multiple days of the same relentless wave.

Most of our new patients have relatively uncomplicated issues, such as respiratory viruses. They will be here for a few days before heading home. 

Alongside them, there's another group of children with less-straightforward issues. These patients were dealt a bad hand, but often have emotional super heroes for family members. Their parents manage a mind-boggling series of medical complexities, and they will hold on for as long as possible. 

Finally, there is a group of patients with medical complications of Scrabble-level complexity. There may be a history of abuse or neglect, congenital syphilis or these children may not be immunized with probable meningitis. 

To me, those phrases aren't only medical diagnoses. They are underlying social failures manifesting as medical distress. And it's happening more and more.