well they closed down a floor of the hospital

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well last week they closed down a floor at my hospital for lack of patients. we are being called off and cancelled because the other floors have to accomidate nurses from the floor that was closed. i don't mind being called off. it shows how bad the ecomony is. how are things at your hospital?

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Census always almost goes down around Christmas time if you havent noticed. what does being sick have to do with the economy ? Have you ever taken an economy class in college ?

well last week they closed down a floor at my hospital for lack of patients. we are being called off and cancelled because the other floors have to accomidate nurses from the floor that was closed. i don't mind being called off. it shows how bad the ecomony is. how are things at your hospital?

Not sure, but patrick1rn's comment on whether an economy class was taken in college seemed to be a bit snide towards the OP's observation. Depending on where one works, this may not be a familiar trend. My community hospital's census does not change due to the holidays or even the economy because we service immigrants that do not celebrate our holidays and we have to accept patients whether they can pay or not...many are fee-scaled to self pay status according to their reported income. I have worked in city and state hospitals for over 20 years and I have never witnessed a floor closure...in fact, we were always overloaded with patients. The problem in our situation is that we have so many that are ineligible for Medicaid or managed care, and are unable to keep up with even the most reasonable fee scale that the cost to run the facility is more than accomodating our patients.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Well, I know I have cut way back on my Vegas trips! I live/work in an area that is very dependent on snow birds visiting to fill our hospitals in the winter. None of the tourists are here either!

It seems like pt's will not come into the ER unless they are 7/8ths dead!

Most people are not in the position to take even the slightest risks on their dwindling dollars. I love Vegas, myself. I am not an avid gambler, but I am known to go to some of the peny and nickel machines to gain the free drinks and go about my business. I was lucky at those machines, and then, if I got over $100 in winnings (usually I did), then, I would graduate to the quarter slots. I enjoyed the scenery of Vegas, got married out there 9 years ago (and we're still going strong), and we loved to look at the free sites, such as the talking statues in Caeasar's, the pirate show at Treasure Island, and the water show at the Bellagio to name a few. But, we can't take the risk to go, because there was always a bit of gambling along the way. I'd hate to see Vegas sink, but heck, I can't afford to lose a penny!

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Specializes in Acute Mental Health.

I worked on a rehab unit awhile back and the census would always go down around the holidays and pick up after. I guess many people were putting off hip and knee replacements until after Christmas. Before Christmas however, I could see by looking at the board which doctor was going on an expensive vacation. They would fill the unit with patients, not just their usual 3-4, but 10-12! I was a cna and would look and ask "So where's doc so and so going this Christmas?" Sure enough it would be some expensive vacation. Oh, and the ones who were going through a divorce would suddenly become very busy as well.

Maybe, on the docs behalf, the patients were flocking to their offices to get procedures done before the holidays....

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I worked on a rehab unit awhile back and the census would always go down around the holidays and pick up after. I guess many people were putting off hip and knee replacements until after Christmas. Before Christmas however, I could see by looking at the board which doctor was going on an expensive vacation. They would fill the unit with patients, not just their usual 3-4, but 10-12! I was a cna and would look and ask "So where's doc so and so going this Christmas?" Sure enough it would be some expensive vacation. Oh, and the ones who were going through a divorce would suddenly become very busy as well.

Maybe, on the docs behalf, the patients were flocking to their offices to get procedures done before the holidays....

This is such an interesting observation...a perspective I would not have even thought of, until you mentioned this in a post. Thanks for sharing:yeah:. It makes me think now, to a degree, that in order to make ends meet, a doctor may overload his schedule, which can lead to a more unsafe outcome.

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Specializes in Med Surg, ER, OR.

We just had a unit shut down for the last two days with plans of remaining closed until the first of the year. We were all telling each other that they couldn't do that feasibly, because our ED does tend to stay fairly busy during all times of the year (only about 20 beds, but we cart em in the hall if we need to, and we also are the only mid-size hospital in 30square mile area who is not allowed to divert for any reason!). That unit just opened up last night because our ED had 50pts that needed beds (not just pts in the ED but actual admissions) so the rest of the hospital had to acquire the loose ends d/t the unit opening up at 1830 to pick up slack...argh!

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
We just had a unit shut down for the last two days with plans of remaining closed until the first of the year. We were all telling each other that they couldn't do that feasibly, because our ED does tend to stay fairly busy during all times of the year (only about 20 beds, but we cart em in the hall if we need to, and we also are the only mid-size hospital in 30square mile area who is not allowed to divert for any reason!). That unit just opened up last night because our ED had 50pts that needed beds (not just pts in the ED but actual admissions) so the rest of the hospital had to acquire the loose ends d/t the unit opening up at 1830 to pick up slack...argh!

Interesting...I also see that the hospital will do all that they can not to divert because this may mean that they lose whatever dollars gained by those admissions. I find it amazing that space suddenly opens up...even after instructions to remain closed. Hope it wasn't a dangerous area...

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Specializes in SICU, PACU, Public health.

Well...at least we work in an industry that isn't doomed when the economy takes a downturn....another big plant is closing here in South GA (Cooper Tire). Merck closed about 1-2 years ago. Hundreds of people permanently out of high paying factory jobs....Many of whom do not have any immediate options. At least in the medical field, there are options (however undesirable they may seem with night/weekend hours, etc) should your current job disappear. I am thankful for that at least.

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Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.

Our psych unit of 27 beds is always filled to capacity. We had 4 discharges on the 23rd, and 4 admissions by the 24th. We never have enough staff and are always pulling from other units and rely heavily on casual staff (of which I am one) for both nursing and ancillary. There is a general hiring freeze and some nonessential staff are being laid off though I personally know of no one who has been laid off. Turnover is high among ancillary staff, mandation is common. So for us, the economy has had no effect at the unit level. It's busines as usual.

There was a local hospital which went bankrupt and the state required them to close last month. They provided services for a rural population. They needed that hospital. What a shame.

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Specializes in thoracic, cardiology, ICU.

The slow downs are probable more due to the holidays than anything but yeah the economy definitely plays a role. People are afraid to go in for any type of elective surgery that can wait because they don't want to miss work due to recovery times so if its not vital, it has to wait. The community hospitals are the ones being hit hardest i would think. The other issue is that people are losing their jobs, and losing their insurance because of it, so they're really not wanting to go to the hospital unless its absolutely necessary.

One thing that always astounds me though is that during holidays and baseball games, the ERs in my area tend to be empty. But once the game ends, or the day after the holiday, everyone is there with aches and pains that have been going on for 6 weeks.

And i had never taken an "economy class" but i've taken a course or two dealing with healthcare economics.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

One of the other larger health systems in my area has a hiring freeze and they are cutting OT. Management and Staff Docs are taking pay cuts.

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I heard a rumor that our Medicine floor was closing down and the nurses were all displaced or laid-off I presume. I work part-time on an Oncology unit and I usually get 5-6 shifts per pay period and am constantly called in on my days off. I just got me new schedule and I am only booked for 2 shifts in a two week period! Our supervisor said we were closing beds but no one would be laid-off. I'm thinking of talking to my supervisor on Monday and asking if this is how things will be from now on ... if so I need to find a new job that offers more hours. I need p/t because I am also taking post-graduate courses. I never thought my job would be affected by the economy, sadly no one is safe. I'd rather be laid-off than get 2 shifts a pay period and expect to be "on-call".

We also short-staffed and when full-timers get called in they don't get OT and when I picked up extra shifts I was told I would not get OT either. But I need the work, so I am willing to sacrifice.

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Specializes in ICU, telemetry, LTAC.

Our hospital lost our general surgeon this year, unrelated to the economy. So we've had some rough times before stuff went bad all over the place. We closed a unit more or less permanently, if it reopens it may be a different type unit altogether. The units that were able to, hired those nurses. Most people are working two days a week as opposed to the normal 3, and people are tense.

The ER is jampacked frequently with either clinic type stuff that nobody, ever, will pay for (maybe the taxpayer will), or people who - like one poster previously said- don't come in till they are 7/8 dead. ER is the only dept. that uses PRN people and they aren't agency, just people we know who can do the job. No agency.

We did carry a rather large-ish population of just-about-retired nurses who worked interesting job schedules and/or job descriptions and those were laid off. The managers aren't doing overtime. My manager remarked that she gets all her work done, but she won't say how much she has to do in off-hours to keep up with it. The schedule lately looks like someone ran it through a blender. All I can think is, we're gonna be in all kinds of trouble when (if) flu season hits, there won't be anyone on call to call in.

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