What is it like in your hospital right now?

anononurse · Mar 26, 2020

Anyone know what the decompression tents are that are being set up at hospitals? We have been told that we have to staff these tents starting tonight and need an explanation- a REAL one, not what administration is telling us!

TopsDrop, RN · Mar 26, 2020

We have the calm before the storm thing going on here too. We have 4 positive COVID patients in my ICU. All are vented and 2 are being proned. They seem to be slowly improving, but this virus is messed up, so hopefully that continues.

We stopped visitation 2 or 3 weeks ago. PPE is rationed and we've "stolen" all the caprs/paprs we could from clinics, surgery etc. All electives surgeries are canceled.

ER has been at about half normal flow and our unit has had about 12-15 patients (24 bed) mixed ICU. (We had been near capacity for months).

Not sure how the hospital floors look, but we sure aren't getting our transfers out quickly.

My midwest town is 70,000 population less than 20 miles from a large metro area for reference.

Pretty interesting how many people aren't that sick when they have to stay home and surgeries are canceled.

Our ICU manager is former military, so luckily we are using this time to come up with a game plan for when the stuff really hits.

Tiffany D · Mar 26, 2020

WOW!. Similar situation. I thought my hospital was the only one with low census. I work in Houston, TX downtown area at HCA Houston Healthcare Med Center and census has been really low. Not only for the entire hospital but for my floor 6S (IMU) floor as well. The house supervisor has been cancelling RN’s that are scheduled to work. So we are losing out on hours for the last two weeks now. I am wondering how long the census will be low. People are really scared to come to the hospital. I thought it would have been the complete opposite.

All in all, that means we will continue to be cancelled if we don’t have patients to take care of. Thank God they are implementing an opportunity where we can make up hours at sister HCA facility if we choose to.

CCTX, BSN, RN · Mar 26, 2020

I work in a hospital just outside NYC, I work in ICU, we've been rationing our N95's for about 4 weeks now, we get one a week to re-use, we got face shields too that we clean after every patient, we're very worried we won't have enough when in gets bad in a few weeks.

Very stressful for our ER staff too and our EMT's who get these patients first.

NY is full of great people willing to help though, I'm praying we'll get through this and never make the same mistakes again.

Joan · Mar 26, 2020

I'm PRN and I'm called off all the time. Apparently it's not as bad as the media claims and besides COVID-19 can stay on surfaces for 19 days so it's rediculous everybody is buying out masks and gloves. Almost comical.

dreamerachiever, BSN, RN · Mar 26, 2020

Our hospital is so slow, they are asking for us to take voluntary time off.

waufah, BSN, RN · Mar 26, 2020

27 minutes ago, c_etude said:
I'm PRN and I'm called off all the time. Apparently it's not as bad as the media claims and besides COVID-19 can stay on surfaces for 19 days so it's rediculous everybody is buying out masks and gloves. Almost comical.

This exact mentality is will be the death of us. This is a pandemic,with no vaccine. The media is not making baseless claims, we are not prepared,we dont have enough PPE ,ventilators or staff to deal with the worst of it. According to research 6% of the population will need ventilation,in America that is 20million,do a Google search of how many are available in the country then maybe you will understand how bad things are. There is not enough research to be conclusive how long the virus stays on the surface. The people buying masks are smart actually,they are taking the necessary preacautions.

CCTX, BSN, RN · Mar 26, 2020

45 minutes ago, c_etude said:
I'm PRN and I'm called off all the time. Apparently it's not as bad as the media claims and besides COVID-19 can stay on surfaces for 19 days so it's rediculous everybody is buying out masks and gloves. Almost comical.

WOW!, wouldn't want you as a coworker with that uneducated and ignorant resonse, get your facts straight and maybe go back to school and get educated before posting stupid comments!

DallasRN · Mar 26, 2020

9 minutes ago, CCTX said:
WOW!!, wouldn't want you as a coworker with that uneducated and ignorant resonse, get your facts straight and maybe go back to school and get educated before posting stupid comments!

This is a terribly stressful time for everyone. c_etude, like many of us, is having her income cut due to the call-offs, probably somewhat worried about her risks and the risks to her friends/family...I know I am.

First and foremost, I think we all need to support each other without slinging insults. It seems some people are seeing things quite different in their areas from what we're seeing/ hearing on the news and from what others might be seeing. Look at the sick maps - 1-2 cases in Montana, North Dakota vs the cases in Texas, New York. And finally, she's isn't incorrect - per NIH

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces

bjz003 · Mar 26, 2020

Our hospital stopped allowing visitors as of last Monday. We have had more then a few cases. I work on an inpatient psych unit. It seems all protocols that stand on the other units dont apply to us. We are in a community setting. Everyone eats in a dining area. They all play games and watch tv together and attend groups with nursing or social workers. Patients are screened in ED by temp. No temp your clear. I start my 3 12s tomorrow I hope there will be some better protocol s in place. My husband is a cop in NYC and he is losing a cop or 2 a day tesring positive to covid, many hes worked with up till the time they got sick. 1 in ICU 1 on med floor the rest are home. ??

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Mar 26, 2020

Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals union conducted a survey among facilities they represent and created a Hospital Report Card: https://www.pasnap.com/reportcard Most of PASNAP hospitals are in the 5 county Philadelphia area which has majority of 1,687 PA Covid-19 reported cases (3/26/20).

They scored each facility on seven areas of concern to nurses and allied health professionals

Adequate PE Supplies
Tent/Outdoor Triage
Separate unit for COVID-19 patients
Limiting access
Adequate staffing
Absence policy for COVID-19
Quarantine policy

DELCO Times article: Nurses concerned about hospital supplies during pandemic

https://www.delcotimes.com/news/coronavirus/nurses-concerned-about-hospital-supplies-during-pandemic/article_172a636a-6ee6-11ea-b906-c763b3570809.html

- - -

3/26/20 6:30PM -US has just surpassed China in total # 82,404 of confirmed COVID-19 cases per John Hopkins dashboard:

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

doro8144 · Mar 26, 2020

I work in Florida. I do not work in Miami, which is a COVID hotspot, but our city is a big Spring break hot spot. I work at two hospital systems, in two adjoining counties. Both are Med-surg jobs, one is seasonal, one is part-time. We have a lot of tourists, and seniors in both counties. Things were quiet until about March 6 when the first COVID patient died. She died before the results were known. Many employees exposed.

Two of our local healthcare workers have been diagnosed with COVID. So far, they are hanging in there. 3 patients have died. Many in the hospital . More are at home in quarantine. The hospitals have special tents set up outside the ERs to triage patients. Each hospital has a special COVID unit(s). Management has warned us that our PPE will run out soon and to be vigilant how we use it.

However, things seem eerily quiet. Our census is very low. People are afraid to come to the ER. ER docs are not admitting if they can help it. All elective procedures are cancelled. I think in 2-3 weeks we will be slammed because of all of the carelessness of Spring break. We are all waiting for it. It feels like a hurricane coming, except there are no spaghetti models and no Jim Cantore reporting.