Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/resear...-take-much-to-overwhelm-hospitals-this-winter
With Too Few Nurses, It Won’t Take Much to Overwhelm Hospitals This Winter
Stateline Article December 9, 2021 Updated: December 15, 2021 By: Sophie Quinton Read time: 8 min
Editor's note: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated hospital staffing changes in Michigan. About 4% fewer hospital beds were staffed in the state last month than in November 2020.
Nurse Hannah Drummond routinely must watch patients for hours as they lie in the emergency department, waiting for a hospital bed upstairs. That includes patients so ill they use breathing machines or need hospice or intensive care, she said.
There often aren’t enough nurses to staff every bed at the Asheville, North Carolina, hospital where she works, Drummond said.
“We are barely holding it together now,” she said. “If we have an uptick in [COVID-19] cases—yeah. I have to honestly not think about it, or I cannot sleep at night.”
Even as a new COVID-19 variant starts to spread in the United States, staff shortages have made it impossible for many hospitals to operate at full capacity. That means they’re less prepared to manage an influx of patients this winter, whether those patients have complications from COVID-19 or other significant health problems.
Hospitals nationwide are canceling nonemergency surgeries, struggling to quickly find beds for patients and failing to meet the minimum nurse-patient ratios experts recommend. Some even have had to turn away critical patients. While hospitals are under the most strain in Midwestern and Northeastern states where COVID-19 cases are surging, workforce shortages also are creating problems in Southern states where cases are relatively low—for now.
Hospitals employ about 2% fewer people today than they did in March 2020, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That may not seem like much, but for many facilities, it makes a big difference. Crucially, experienced nurses have been quitting in search of better pay, less stressful jobs and more time with their families. In some cases, they've also sought to avoid required COVID-19 vaccinations...
With Too Few Nurses, It Won’t Take Much to Overwhelm Hospitals This Winter
Stateline Article December 9, 2021 Updated: December 15, 2021 By: Sophie Quinton Read time: 8 min
Editor's note: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated hospital staffing changes in Michigan. About 4% fewer hospital beds were staffed in the state last month than in November 2020.
Nurse Hannah Drummond routinely must watch patients for hours as they lie in the emergency department, waiting for a hospital bed upstairs. That includes patients so ill they use breathing machines or need hospice or intensive care, she said.
There often aren’t enough nurses to staff every bed at the Asheville, North Carolina, hospital where she works, Drummond said.
“We are barely holding it together now,” she said. “If we have an uptick in [COVID-19] cases—yeah. I have to honestly not think about it, or I cannot sleep at night.”
Even as a new COVID-19 variant starts to spread in the United States, staff shortages have made it impossible for many hospitals to operate at full capacity. That means they’re less prepared to manage an influx of patients this winter, whether those patients have complications from COVID-19 or other significant health problems.
Hospitals nationwide are canceling nonemergency surgeries, struggling to quickly find beds for patients and failing to meet the minimum nurse-patient ratios experts recommend. Some even have had to turn away critical patients. While hospitals are under the most strain in Midwestern and Northeastern states where COVID-19 cases are surging, workforce shortages also are creating problems in Southern states where cases are relatively low—for now.
Hospitals employ about 2% fewer people today than they did in March 2020, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That may not seem like much, but for many facilities, it makes a big difference. Crucially, experienced nurses have been quitting in search of better pay, less stressful jobs and more time with their families. In some cases, they've also sought to avoid required COVID-19 vaccinations...
