Photo courtesy of Pixabay user sasint
(OLYMPIA) Hospital leaders across our region are saying they continue to be at capacity, and that COVID is just a part of the problem.
Taya Briley with the Washington State Hospital Association says you could definitely the virus is what brought us here, but now that new case counts are at historic lows, why are hospitals still so crowded?
“The capacity crisis is being driven largely by non-COVID factors,” Briley says. “One of the greatest of those factors are patients who are in the hospital that cannot get out of the hospital.”
She’s referring to those who have been treated and need to be moved to long-term care, but there are no beds to move them to. So, these patients remain in the hospitals, taking up space, and keeping many Washington hospitals at or over capacity. And one of the primary reasons there is no room in nursing or long term car centers is a shortage of staff.
A spokesperson at Tacoma’s St Joseph Medical Center tells the News Tribune that staff shortages are also limiting the number of patients in hospitals. Many of these shortages come as doctors and nurses get burned out from the long hours of the pandemic.
And the worst may still be ahead. A report says 2022 will be the worst yet financially for hospitals during the pandemic.
