Admitted patients to the ER

[Jen S]

I work in a ER that sees 75,000 patients per year. While we are waiting for hospital renovations and expansion. We are constantly forced to keep admitted patints in the ER since there are no beds within the hospital. Is anyone else faced with the same delima? I use to work as a floor nurse and went to the ER to get away from it. With all the admissions we are forced to divert daily to weekly. I work nightshift, so we don't get a floor nurse at all to take care of these patients

[CamelliaER]

Hi Jen...and welcome to my life...

Admitted patients have become a way of life in my ER, and most of the ones I hear about. In fact, my manager is now considering hiring a med/surg nurse in the dept just to care for them. At any given time, at least half of our beds are taken up with admitted patients, which not only significantly lengthens waiting times, but makes our ERP's very grumpy (fee for service ).

It's a huge source of frustration for us, but we understand that the nursing shortage has affected not only our dept (we currently have 10 vacant positions), but the whole hospital. Too bad that the need for beds hasn't correspondingly decreased.......

I wish I could tell you I thought this was a temporary problem, but I really don't see it changing in the near future.

[kaycee]

Same situation here in Pittsburgh. I work a smaller community hospital and we are backed up with holds all the time. We don't get extra help either cause there is none. The two major trauma centers are always on divert now because they have no nurses to staff beds, especially critical care beds. Our hospital has been full for weeks now. We have also had to divert. Pretty soon there will be no where to divert to. I've been doin this a long time and have never seen it this bad. I don't feel that there's any light at the end of the tunnel either!

[denicke]

Check out the cover story of US News and World Report. You can access it on line. It is about the crisis in ED's across the nation, why we're in crisis (holding pts, lack of access to primary care, non insured/underinsured, etc.) and the fears that many have about our future. Very interesting reading.