Leadership | 12.07.20
Hospitals Brace for Crisis-Care Mode With Too Many Patients, Not Enough Staff
by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (11/18/20) Moore, Daniel
The rising numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations is proving to be particularly ominous in the country's intensive care units. Consequently, a growing number of medical experts are urging hospitals and states to prepare to shift into crisis-care mode, a designation with standards for hospitals to navigate life-and-death decisions when they become overwhelmed. Such standards mean hospitals with too many patients and too few staff will likely need to triage patients and prioritize care to those mostly likely to benefit when demand outstrips resources. Some hospitals are already strategizing to compensate. Utah hospitals, for instance, have canceled surgeries and shifted staff to makeshift ICU units to care for the increasing number of coronavirus patients. In Colorado, meanwhile, Gov. Jared Polis recently signed an executive order authorizing the state's health department to order at-capacity hospitals to halt admissions and transfer patients.
Read the full story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.