Hospitals around the United States are cutting back on the number of beds they can open up to patients, particularly to treat coronavirus patients, as doctors, nurses and other patient care professionals call in sick with coronavirus or even quit their jobs because they’re exhausted or burned out from the latest wave of coronavirus, or they’re infected themselves, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Massachusetts General in Boston reports 83 beds are vacant because the hospital doesn’t have the staff available to care for patients. In Ohio, University Hospitals, its facilities have cut capacity by 16%. Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas have dropped capacity by 3%.
Nearly 1,300 hospitals around the country have reported reaching critical staffing levels, meaning the facilities have hit or exceeded optimal staffing levels to effectively treat patients. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, which represents medical schools and teaching hospitals, between five and seven percent of hospital staff are absent from their jobs on any given day because they’ve tested positive for coronavirus. “Those are big numbers when you’re talking about staffing a hospital,” anis Orlowski, the association’s chief health care officer, said.
