Covid and Hospitals: How are things now?

Wuzzie · Nov 13, 2020

The public is going to find out the hard way that their irresponsible actions are going to impact them even without a Covid diagnosis. We are reaching a critical shortage in nurses due to illness and quarantine so I fear we will be starting to see people dying not "of" Covid but "from" Covid. We have no beds, not enough nurses and other staff and the ED's are jammed. We are soon going to be running codes for things like MI's in the ambulance bay because there simply is no room and no staff to care for these people.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Nov 13, 2020

What a terrible situation. Getting worse by the day it seems. Does not seem sustainable.

turtlesRcool · Nov 13, 2020

1 hour ago, Wuzzie said:

The public is going to find out the hard way that their irresponsible actions are going to impact them even without a Covid diagnosis. We are reaching a critical shortage in nurses due to illness and quarantine so I fear we will be starting to see people dying not "of" Covid but "from" Covid. We have no beds, not enough nurses and other staff and the ED's are jammed. We are soon going to be running codes for things like MI's in the ambulance bay because there simply is no room and no staff to care for these people.

Been there, done that. You're describing the greater NY area last Spring. The "excess deaths" of that period (defined as the # of deaths expected based on historical data minus COVID deaths) showed a lot more people were dying during that period than should have been. Not dying of COVID, but dying from lack of access to a medical system that was swamped.

I'm in CT, and our hospital was turned over almost entirely to COVID. We had one "clean" floor for everything else (we usually have 5 med-surg units). It was nuts. Regular tele nurses were getting fresh STEMIs to preserve critical care beds. The acuity was though the roof because only those who really HAD to be in the hospital were coming in (or getting admitted). Definitely no "better safe than sorry" admits. I can only imagine how many people died from preventible things like sepsis because they didn't come in for UTIs.

People who claim we need to "open it up" because we "already flattened the curve last Spring" have no idea how fast that curve can shoot up when there's unchecked exponential growth in the community.

Sending you hugs, Wuzzie! It sucks to be in that position, running your behind off every shift, seeing patients suffer, trying to comfort distraught relatives on the phone, and being completely wrung out mentally and physically by the end of the shift. And it's even worse knowing that there are people out there making the situation harder than it needs to be through their selfishness and willful ignorance. We nurses will keep fighting the good fight because that's what we do, but, dang, I wish the whole community were fighting the spread with us.

Editorial Team / Admin · Nov 14, 2020

We have surpassed our highest numbers from Spring. We’ve had to convert yet another unit to COVID. Over 200 staff out for quarantine either for testing positive or high risk exposure. In my department alone we have over 30 out. Waiting for the hammer to drop that non-bedside nurses will move into the bedside role again and the critical care surge training to have round two. I’m in shock we haven’t cancelled surgeries yet. ER is holding patients for days, there are no open critical care beds, and PACU has been holding patients while also being the code bed.

PCU_RN9, MSN · Nov 14, 2020

5 hours ago, Rose_Queen said:

We have surpassed our highest numbers from Spring. We’ve had to convert yet another unit to COVID. Over 200 staff out for quarantine either for testing positive or high risk exposure. In my department alone we have over 30 out. Waiting for the hammer to drop that non-bedside nurses will move into the bedside role again and the critical care surge training to have round two. I’m in shock we haven’t cancelled surgeries yet. ER is holding patients for days, there are no open critical care beds, and PACU has been holding patients while also being the code bed.

Where are you located?

Kitiger, RN · Nov 15, 2020

HEALTH

‘No One Is Listening to Us’

More people than ever are hospitalized with COVID-19. Health-care workers can’t go on like this.

ED YONG

November 13, 2020

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/11/third-surge-breaking-healthcare-workers/617091/?fbclid=IwAR3OV3VrXyFTbFi5l8KI6s_hja84bEUPH1FvYp12_Un0n2UAcIrNhnjXhJQ

allnurses Guide · Nov 16, 2020

That is the part the public just isn't getting. It won't just be Covid deaths! If there is no hospital capacity and/or no staff to care for new patients, then there will be deaths from conditions that normally would not die simply because there is nobody left to care for them. People are leaving the bedside in droves, from all medical specialties. The stress is just overwhelming. Between that and those who are sick, we are really struggling to have enough people to care for the capacity as it sits now. I fully expect January to be a mess of deaths from Christmas gatherings. What we are seeing now have their roots in the Halloween and political activities.

Its bad here in Texas. Very, very bad. We are getting patients shipped up to DFW from El Paso, while still beginning to hit surge levels on our own since the Summer. We are so desperate for help that we are offering a $1000 recruiting bonuses for staff that help bring in bedside nurses, patient care assistants and respiratory therapists. Problem is, there just aren't any to be found. All the travelers are being pulled everywhere. Huge chunks of the nation are in need all at the same time.

I work in Education and we have people falling sick left and right. Almost everyone I know has someone in their immediate sphere with a Covid diagnosis. It feels predatory, like its circling around us now. There are murmurs of another lockdown, which is, of course, met with the understandable protest, as people are having trouble supporting themselves and no relief from our inept government to help stem the bleeding.

I am so depressed about the whole thing. This time next year a lot of families will have empty places at the table. It didn't need to be this way. The same people protesting another lockdown are the ones refusing to mask or limit socializing.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Nov 17, 2020

Nurse SMS - you paint a very real picture. I am surprised at how many people I know from work and around the neighborhood, that were so extremely careful during the 1st lockdown and are now very relaxed about family gatherings, church friends etc....

A few weeks ago the hospital nears my MIL's ALF on the Fort Worth/Keller border was already full & kept her in ER for 60 hours as no inpatient beds, and that was before the numbers were what they are now.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Dec 4, 2020

Any updates?

Wuzzie · Dec 4, 2020

231 Covid + patients admitted

52 in the ICU

50 of those on ventilators

50% of ventilator availability used (Covid and Non-Covid)

97 open beds left in our ENTIRE system (41 are spoken for)

And we haven't even hit the post-Thanskgiving surge.

allnurses Guide · Dec 4, 2020

We climb a little every day it seems.

We are seeing more cases. More deaths. It holds steady for a day or two, then drops a smidge, then surges forward. Rinse and repeat. Next week and the week after will show us what Thanksgiving has done. We don't even have those folks yet.

MeganMN · Dec 4, 2020

One of the nursing homes in my little town had 62 residents and 23 of them have died of Vivid with one nurse death. Makes me sad.