Ascension and other hospitals being called out for their staffing by the NYT

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EctopicFetus

EctopicFetus

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Unfortunately, I can not post it here because it is behind a paywall but Ascension and other hospitals are being called out by the NYT for their staffing of techs and nurses and creating unsafe practices.
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silk-news.com

How a Sprawling Hospital Chain Ignited Its Own Staffing Crisis - Silk-News.com

At a hospital in a Chicago suburb last winter, there were so few nurses that psychiatric patients with Covid were left waiting a full day for beds, and a single aide was on hand to assist with 32 infected patients. Nurses were so distraught about the inadequate staffing that they banded together...
silk-news.com silk-news.com

Copies the NYT article
 
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Interviewed someone this year who was rotating at a hospital in NYC and said they had one ED nurse on duty... ONE... and had 90 patients in the ED. I mean I know everyone is hurt for staffing on the floors and the ED, but there has to be a point where that shouldn't be legal.
 
gamerEMdoc said:
Interviewed someone this year who was rotating at a hospital in NYC and said they had one ED nurse on duty... ONE... and had 90 patients in the ED. I mean I know everyone is hurt for staffing on the floors and the ED, but there has to be a point where that shouldn't be legal.
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there has to be some point where the leadership becomes directly liable for decisions that cause harm.
 
Major said:
Freakin yikes! Anyone on this board have experience working, currently, or previously at an Ascension ED?
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Know quite a few docs locally who work at Ascension hospitals. Don’t think they are any worse off for staff compared any of the other hospitals. Interestingly not too long ago the main local Catholic hospital was pretty much run by nuns, in full habits etc. I think those days are over however.
 
I have many friends who work at some local Ascension EDs, and I frequently transfer to them. Also, until recently, my wife was a CTICU nurse at an Ascension mother-ship hospital and we have many RN friends throughout the hospital.

The EDs are a mess. Terrible EMR (meditech), terrible processes, boarding, etc. I try NOT to transfer to Ascension because of that.

The hospital is arguably worse. Wife frequently had 3 patients with fresh hearts she was trying to wean off ventilators....patients who really should get 1:1 care.

It's a mess. Life is much better out in country...
 
articles like this make me feel bad about my own learned helplessness. i sent multiple emails to my supervisors about unsafe staffing and specific patient charts where there were obvious misses or near misses directly due to inappropriate and unsafe working conditions, but after getting the same bull**** reply every time, i stopped doing it. unfortunately, the only way to change these things is to keep a paper trail, but the reality is that's just one more task to add to my already over-extended to-do list of work related tasks. good for these nurses for continuing to document the hell out of what they were dealing with, and may we all find the resolve to do the same.
 
I trained at Ascension St John in Detroit, a level II mothership. But that was 7 years ago, and there were no palpable staffing issues at the time. Place ran like a well oiled machine.
 
gamerEMdoc said:
Interviewed someone this year who was rotating at a hospital in NYC and said they had one ED nurse on duty... ONE... and had 90 patients in the ED. I mean I know everyone is hurt for staffing on the floors and the ED, but there has to be a point where that shouldn't be legal.
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I am sure this is true but this is unfathomable. If I were an ER doc, I would shut the ED down and only see critical pts.
 
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EctopicFetus said:
I just keep on keeping on. this isnt my problem.
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Only times it matters is if it’s the VA or Kaiser. The VA wants at least an attempt to transfer admits back to the VA and Kaiser will always accept their patients for admission at Kaiser hospitals.
 
Siggy said:
Only times it matters is if it’s the VA or Kaiser. The VA wants at least an attempt to transfer admits back to the VA and Kaiser will always accept their patients for admission at Kaiser hospitals.
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EctopicFetus said:
I just keep on keeping on. this isnt my problem.
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For us unless they are truly not stable for transfer (which happens from time to time of course) it means a transfer with all the phone calls vs. just hitting the admit button and being done with it.
 
emergentmd said:
This happens all the time. Who blinks first and ends up being a compromise that both could have done months ago. Now both sides can claim victory, justify their worth, and get pay raises.
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There are a ton of big fights right now between insurers and hospitals.
 
Dr Mantis Toboggan said:
For us unless they are truly not stable for transfer (which happens from time to time of course) it means a transfer with all the phone calls vs. just hitting the admit button and being done with it.
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I get that it’s easier, but when the VA refuses to pay because there wasn’t an attempt to transfer, then that could cause contract issues.

Also don’t you have to call the admitting physician and sign out the case anyways?
 
Siggy said:
I get that it’s easier, but when the VA refuses to pay because there wasn’t an attempt to transfer, then that could cause contract issues.

Also don’t you have to call the admitting physician and sign out the case anyways?
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Our VA never has beds lol. That’s not the issue so much as private insurance not being in network with the hospital, with those can’t claim higher level or care if it’s just out of network. So if no one has beds it’s just harder to find a landing spot. It’s not the worst thing but typically it’s 4-5 phone calls versus one.
 
Dr Mantis Toboggan said:
Our VA never has beds lol. That’s not the issue so much as private insurance not being in network with the hospital, with those can’t claim higher level or care if it’s just out of network. So if no one has beds it’s just harder to find a landing spot. It’s not the worst thing but typically it’s 4-5 phone calls versus one.
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My understanding from residency was that an attempt needed to be made. If the local VA had no beds and declined, then the hospital was good. I certainly wouldn’t try calling more than 1 though.
 
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