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Hospitals in Minnesota are finding it increasingly difficult to admit new patients and discharge existing patients amid a 2021 record increase in COVID-19 and other cases.
In addition to cases usually seen in the fall, such as asthma, hospitals are grappling with a high number of trauma patients, an unexpected wave of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections typically seen in winter as well as nearly 900 COVID-19 patients.
“COVID is not the primary cause of the current situation,” said Dr. Marc Gorelick, general manager of Children’s Minnesota. “It’s the thing that could put us on top.”
The pressure on hospitals that began in the metropolitan area in July has spread to facilities large and small across the state.
“We are now seeing hospitalizations in major Minnesota population bases exceed those in the metropolitan area,” said Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm.
In the metro area, only 1% of non-ICU beds were available, according to a state website, while southeastern Minnesota only had 5% availability.
Some hospitals, Malcolm noted, had no open beds.
“These are numbers we haven’t seen even in the worst of the last fall wave,” she said.
Hospitals in Minnesota reported 881 COVID-19 patients on Wednesday, including 234 in intensive care. Patients infected with the coronavirus made up 11% of the nearly 7,800 hospital patients statewide, but made up 22% of all intensive care patients.
Some hospitals have fully equipped and empty hospital rooms, but they do not have the staff, including nurses, orderlies, and other health care workers needed to care for patients.
“There are fewer occupational health workers today than there were last year,” said Malcolm.
The duration and intensity of the pandemic have prompted some to quit the industry altogether or at least take a break.
“Our healthcare staff… have been leading this race for over 18 months,” said Rachelle Schultz, CEO of Winona Health. “It can be both rewarding, but it is also exhausting.”
With a tight labor market and strong demand for healthcare professionals nationwide, it is difficult for healthcare organizations to recruit new workers.
“The staff are very tight,” said Schultz. “We can use more people, and they’re not there for us to get.”
The labor shortage is also affecting the ability of hospitals to refer patients to other facilities, such as nursing homes or transitional care units, for continued monitoring or referral. rehabilitation.
“Sometimes we have patients who stay in the hospital for three weeks and could be discharged because there is no room,” said Dr. Kevin Croston, CEO of North Memorial Health.
“Every part of our health care system is incredibly stressed,” he said. “It has been a pretty tough year, in fact it’s the most difficult year I have had in my 30 years in the healthcare industry.”
The beds at the two North Memorial hospitals are almost full and most patients are sicker than normal.
“The acuteness and severity of the disease that we are seeing has increased dramatically compared to the same time last year,” said Croston.
Several studies have shown that primary care visits, including those for chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension, declined during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Some of the currents [patient] the volumes come from chronic diseases that are not well managed during the pandemic because people were not seeking care for many reasons, ”said Malcolm.
For this reason, hospitals try to avoid canceling any procedures that might be delayed even if the pressure on capacity persists.
Instead, some ask patients to reprogram during times of crisis.
“We’re able to flex up and down and make the cases when we do,” Croston said. “If we can do it in a week, most people have been pretty good at it.”
In April 2020, Governor Tim Walz issued an executive order banning elective surgeries for several weeks.
“It was a pretty brutal tool,” Gorelick said.
Now that hospitals have an adequate supply of personal protective equipment along with a better understanding of the virus and how to treat it, a moratorium is not needed, hospital officials said.
“The moratorium we imposed in April 2020 kind of shut the hospital down. What ultimately happened as a result is part of what we are seeing,” Croston said. “It just delayed the inevitable.”
Glenn Howatt • 612-673-7192
Twitter: @GlennHowatt
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