The struggle for Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and other hospitals dealing with the latest surge in COVID patients is having enough intensive care unit (ICU) nurses.
Hospitals need ICU nurses to care for COVID patients. So as the number of COVID hospitalizations swell, finding enough ICU nurses to treat COVID patients is the real challenge, according to Henry Mayo Spokesperson Patrick Moody.
“It’s a challenge to make sure that we have enough staff to take care of all the patients who require ICU level care,” Moody said. “We’re doing it, and we still have capacity to do it, but it is getting more and more challenging.”
To meet that demand Henry Mayo is turning to traveling nurses; nurses who work contracts for limited periods and serve to fill gaps in staffing at hospitals around the country.
“They’re called travelers, and we are doing that as much as we can but the problem, as you can probably guess, is every hospital is trying to use travelers now,” Moody said.
It is a common practice in the healthcare industry to use travelers during times when there’s peak demand. The demand for travelers has increased with the growing number of COVID hospitalizations though, and the supply hasn’t been able to keep up, according to Moody.
“There’s a lot of competition and there’s not really slack in the market, because all the hospitals are basically trying to use travelers,” Moody said. “So, it can be difficult to get enough travelers to fill the gaps.”
Like many hospitals in the region, Henry Mayo has a shortage of nurses with the appropriate ICU training and experience to work with COVID patients. Earlier this year, Henry Mayo made staffing cuts but no nurses qualified to work in the hospital’s COVID wing were let go, according to Moody.
“Our staffing challenges are unrelated to that. We need nurses with certain skills, as does every other hospital,” Moody said. “We know it was widely reported we did have layoffs, many hospitals did when they were really hurt by COVID last spring and summer. But our current staffing challenges are unrelated to that.”
The changing level of qualified staff means the COVID patient capacity levels for hospitals like Henry Mayo are always changing. In order to properly treat COVID patients hospitals need ICU nurses to staff those patients. So capacity is dependent on how many Intensive Care Unit nurses the hospital has working at any given time.
“The staffing situation is very fluid. We are not at capacity now, but it’s a constant effort to make sure we’re adequately staffed with enough intensive care nurses,” Moody said. “It’s a dynamic situation and it’s incumbent on staffing, not on physical capacity.”
Hospital officials are stressing that over the next few weeks residents strictly follow all public health guidelines.
“We just really appeal to people to stay home, wear masks when they go out, limit their interactions with people outside their household and practice social distancing,” Moody said. “Hospitals are pretty much at the point where we’re doing all we can do and it’s really up to the general public to limit the spread. So we just really appeal to people to follow those steps.”
Following these guidelines will be especially difficult during the upcoming holiday, but extremely important according to Moody.
“It’s important especially with Christmas coming up, a time when people typically gather,” Moody said. “I have extended family here and we always gather. We’re not going to this year. So, I know it’s difficult, but the next few weeks are going to be pretty critical.”
Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or send an email to newstip@hometownstation.com. Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking KHTS Santa Clarita News Alerts delivered right to your inbox. Report a typo or error, email Corrections@hometownstation.com
KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
No comments:
Post a Comment