COVID-19 Hospitals competing for nurses as the number of cases increases rapidly

Fenton, Michigan (AP) — — As the coronavirus pandemic surges nationwide and infectious diseases and hospitalizations increase, health care managers are struggling to find adequate nursing support, especially in rural areas and small hospitals.

Nurses are trained to provide care in areas of limited experience. Hospitals are curtailing services to ensure they have enough staff to handle critically ill patients. And the healthcare system is looking to short-term travel nurses to fill the gap.

In addition to this tension, Kevin Fitzpatrick, a nurse in the emergency room at the Harley Medical Center in Flint, Michigan, said some experienced nurses were “burned out in this whole (pandemic).” Said he was quitting. At hospice, home care, or outpatient clinics.

“And it’s not easy to replace them,” Fitzpatrick said.

As a result, the ER is constantly working with about five nurses who are below optimal levels, and each nurse typically cares for four patients as new outbreaks of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Hospital officials did not respond to requests for comment.

However, experts say that in addition to the psychological burden, many nurses trained in emergency care are over the age of 50, and joining COVID-19 increases the risk of complications. This departure is not surprising. Other family members to worry about.

Karen Donneran, a professor of health policy at Brandeis University’s Heller School of Social Policy Management, said, “People who feel they can actually work and work safely have a family obligation to protect their health. Limited by. ” “All of them were factors.”

So far, there is little data on how a pandemic that killed more than 231,000 people in the country is affecting overall nursing, according to Donneran. However, despite the nationwide increase in the number of nurses over the last decade, some hospitals were in short supply before the virus became established.

The need is increasing as the total number of coronaviruses identified in the United States exceeds 9 million and new daily infections are increasing in 47 states.

Based in Wausau, Wisconsin, Aspirus Health Care offers nurses with at least a year of experience a $ 15,000 signature bonus to address the surge in hospitalizations that nearly quadruple the number of COVID-only beds. We hire contract nurses through a private staffing agency. -19 patients.

Aspirus, which operates five hospitals in Wisconsin and four in a small community on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, also said it was moving nurses between departments and facilities as hotspots arose. Ruth Lisley Gray, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, said.

According to Risley-Gray, some nurses have been affected or exposed to the cornavirus during the current wave of “vengeance” from August and still need external help. .. At some point in mid-October, 215 staff members were quarantined after showing symptoms or being exposed to those who tested positive, and some have just begun to return to work.

Aspirus was recently able to hire 18 nurses from an external agency, but more nurses may be needed if the surge continues.

April Hansen, executive vice president of Aya Healthcare, based in San Diego, said hospitals across the country are competing for the same nurse pool as pandemics are booming across the country, ranging from $ 1,500 to over $ 5,000 a week. It states that it offers a range of salaries. Recruit and assign travel nurses.

She said demand for their services more than doubled from the early days of the pandemic, which had the greatest needs in hotspots like New Jersey and New Jersey, and then moved to southern states. Viruses have skyrocketed across the country in recent weeks, with new hotspots in places like the rural Upper Midwest and southern border communities, such as El Paso, Texas.

Placing nurses where they are needed is “like a giant game of tapping mogura,” said Hansen, a company that is recruiting about 20,000 for contract nurses. I will.

In North Dakota, where infection rates are exploding, hospitals may seek government assistance to reduce elective surgery and increase nurses in the event of a worsening situation, according to the North Dakota Hospital Association. Chairman Tim Brasl said.

Governor Greg Abbott of Texas recently announced that he will send 75 nurses and respiratory therapists to El Paso to deal with the city’s surge. Meanwhile, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has issued an urgent order to make it easier for nurses from elsewhere to practice in his state and for retired nurses to return.

“This is a challenge and we have begged community members to protect ourselves and others,” said among community members tested by Aspirus by wearing masks and keeping a social distance. Risley-Gray of Aspirus said the positive rate had risen, from less than 10% in September to 24% last week.

Aspirus provides nurses with a micro-break and a quiet place by simply wearing and removing protective equipment all day long to combat the emotional sacrifices and fatigue associated with the care of COVID-19 patients. You can escape and collect yourself when overwhelmed.

Travel nurses say the need in smaller hospitals tends to be greater than the need in larger facilities.

Robert Gardner, who is currently assigned to a hospital in a small town about 20 miles west of Atlanta, searched and rescued the Coast Guard during Hurricane Katrina, but the pandemic was “much worse.” “.

He worked at a large hospital in New Jersey when he was infected with the virus in the spring, but now he’s worried that the flu season could cause further confusion in the hospital. But he decided to stick it out no matter what.

“That’s not a problem either,” Gardner said. “Nursing is a vocation.”