Covid19 and nursing home placement

[Daisy Joyce]

When the pandemic started, I remember hearing talk about either building “field hospital” type structures for care and recovery, or repurposing hotel rooms, etc.

Did any of this ever happen?

The reason I’m asking is there’s been a lot of talk about State Governors making nursing homes take recovering Covid19 patients who had nowhere to go after hospitalization. But *was* there any place else to put them? I know some nursing homes really tried to step up and dedicate Covid19 units, but it didn’t happen across the board.

I did try to Google this, but maybe I didn’t keyword it correctly. Couldn’t find too much information.

[Tenacious Me]

And that’s all who’s hiring right now in healthcare around here - travel nurses for hospitals, hospice and COVID nursing homes. No thank you! They’re calling us heroes during this disaster, but I resent the growing expectation that healthcare workers should be falling all over ourselves to work in these high risk facilities without a second thought. This *** is mentally and emotionally draining!

They promise you PPE but it’s still in short supply and you’re asked to reuse certain things. People are only being tested if they’re actively showing one of the three most common symptoms. Never mind that you can be asymptomatic and a carrier of the virus and exposing others.

Before I leave my shift, I go through a mental check list - wipe down my station, work phone and the cart. When I leave, I wipe the elevator buttons with disinfectant. When I get in my car, I wipe down all of the touch points in my car, put all disposables in a daily trash bag in the back seat and put my masks in a paper bag. Then I just sit for a minute or two to decompress. Last week, I was so emotionally and physically tired that I had to call my husband just to hear the reassurance and support in his voice.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

12 hours ago, Daisy Joyce said:

The reason I’m asking is there’s been a lot of talk about State Governors making nursing homes take recovering Covid19 patients who had nowhere to go after hospitalization.

I only heard of New York mandating nursing homes to take Covid patients. I heard a story of one nursing home that had no Covid deaths, they were sent 2 Covid positive patients, PPE, and five body bags. Within a short period of time, the nursing home had 30 Covid deaths. Instead of sending these patients to the empty field hospitals or US Navy hospital ship, they were sent to the worst place to send a Covid positive patient, a nursing home.

[Swellz]

There is one rehab in my area that is taking COVID positive patients, and you can imagine the waitlist. If someone comes in from an ALF or NH, we have to keep them until they test negative twice, even if they come in for a non-COVID reason, and even if they know they have other residents with COVID at the facility. You would think it would cause a backup at the hospital, given the patients that test positive for weeks, but enough people have been afraid to come to the hospital that we've been lucky. I can see how compelling a facility to take COVID pts would be necessary in a harder hit area where the hospitals are overrun.

[turtlesRcool]

We have discharged patients to hotels. Obviously, this doesn't work for patients who genuinely need nursing home level care (I've cared for some of those who were independent before COVID, and are unable to even stand after weeks of intubation). But for someone who just needs some supplemental O2 and a place to stay, a hotel is a workable discharge plan.

[turtlesRcool]

There have been a couple of reports out of NY where COVID patients died in hotel rooms. They were supposed to be checked on by case managers, but it's unclear if the proper follow-up occurred.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/nyregion/nyc-coronavirus-hotel-deaths.html

[Daisy4RN]

22 hours ago, Daisy Joyce said:

When the pandemic started, I remember hearing talk about either building “field hospital” type structures for care and recovery, or repurposing hotel rooms, etc.

Did any of this ever happen?

The reason I’m asking is there’s been a lot of talk about State Governors making nursing homes take recovering Covid19 patients who had nowhere to go after hospitalization. But *was* there any place else to put them? I know some nursing homes really tried to step up and dedicate Covid19 units, but it didn’t happen across the board.

I did try to Google this, but maybe I didn’t keyword it correctly. Couldn’t find too much information.

Gov Cuomo mandated that nursing homes had to place positive Covid patients and could not refuse others even though not tested. There were other alternatives, the Mercy ship (or Comfort ship), the Medical tents in Central park or the Javits center.