Does your hospital go on diversion

springchick1, ADN, RN · Nov 22, 2015

Hello
I was wondering if you've ever heard of level one trauma centers going on diversion related to no beds and no staff? Currently where I work we never go on diversion and all Directors and managers end up coming in to work the floor?

I don't work at a level one trauma center but the one in my city does go on diversion because we end up with an influx a patients from there when it happens.

THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN · Nov 22, 2015

My hospital aspires to be a level one trauma and we went on internal disaster several times this past week. We were taking all the extra bed in preop and PACU

NurseDMSN · Nov 22, 2015

Thank you for your reply. It just seems that at sometimes a hospital may need to go on diversion for the safety of patients and staff? I was just trying to get a feel for other places.

AJJKRN · Nov 22, 2015

I work for a level 1 and pretty much no, we never divert if we can at all possibly avoid it. It's a double-edged sword when it comes to the safety of the Pt, adequate staffing, and remaining the go to place to send the Pt's. It also makes it harder because we really are the best place to send anyone really sick within the huge area/community that we serve.

Now if we could just retain staff at the bedside (we have no problem retaining people that transfer away from the inpatient bedside that stay working within the entity).

whichone'spink, BSN, RN · Nov 24, 2015

Yes, my hospital goes on divert all the time, but it doesn't stop the influx of people that come in through the ER. There has been several times where patients that have been admitted have stayed in the ER because there were no inpatient beds. In the past, the PACU area would be used for overflow, but not so much anymore.

Sun0408, ASN, RN · Nov 24, 2015

We have went on diversion a few times but we will still take a bad trauma, STEMI, or stroke. All others are diverted.

NurseDMSN · Nov 25, 2015

That makes pretty sense to take only those patients. I'm wondering if this is a standard not to divert when a hospital is a Level 1 trauma center? Thanks for your reply

Sun0408, ASN, RN · Nov 25, 2015

It depends on your area and the other hospitals in your area. We are the only trauma center in our county. The nearest level 2 is 80-100 miles away and the nearest level 1 is farther than that. So that is why we don't divert traumas, STEMIs or strokes.

JohnHood, BSN · Nov 25, 2015

I worked in a Level 2 Trauma Center in South Mississippi. We covered 16 counties in Mississippi and got patients from Louisiana and Alabama. We did not go on divert. I'm at a hospital with a Level 4 Trauma Center just north of Seattle. We do divert but it is a huge event and has to be approved by either the CNO or CEO.

applewhitern, BSN, RN · Nov 25, 2015

We have to go on diversion from time to time, due to unavailability of beds or staff. We are not a level one trauma hospital. Fortunately, there are enough facilities here that our going on diversion doesn't create a problem. There are 6 more hospitals within 30 minutes of us.

Murse9944 · Oct 5, 2016

We rarely go on divert, we are a level two trauma. If we do happen to go on divert we divert all incoming patients except traumas, stemi, and strokes patients. I was told by our house supervisor that technically hospitals are only allowed to go on divert so many times a year or we could risk losing our trauma certifications and other accreditations. This is why we never divert and it must be approved by CMO or CNO.