Winter crunch
Diversion issues continue to hamper all the local hospitals and are anticipated to worsen as the weather changes and the winter illnesses arrive.
RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), Rotavirus, and influenza are all anticipated to increase in frequency as is the normal pattern this time of year.
These will burden the understaffed beds currently available. Floyd has implemented a diversion plan we hope will help, but it certainly will not solve the shortage of beds.
Floyd has elected to convert some of the private rooms back into semi-private rooms to help with the crunch. This probably won’t help the public relation and patient satisfaction results, but it will help physicians treat more patients more effectively.
This move is opposite the stated goals and public comments made last year when the new addition was built but certainly validates the comments of many physicians and others who criticized the expansion without significantly increasing the bed numbers.
But for now, we are able to care for more patients and limit the amount of diversion days and times. That will be good for everyone.
RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), Rotavirus, and influenza are all anticipated to increase in frequency as is the normal pattern this time of year.
These will burden the understaffed beds currently available. Floyd has implemented a diversion plan we hope will help, but it certainly will not solve the shortage of beds.
Floyd has elected to convert some of the private rooms back into semi-private rooms to help with the crunch. This probably won’t help the public relation and patient satisfaction results, but it will help physicians treat more patients more effectively.
This move is opposite the stated goals and public comments made last year when the new addition was built but certainly validates the comments of many physicians and others who criticized the expansion without significantly increasing the bed numbers.
But for now, we are able to care for more patients and limit the amount of diversion days and times. That will be good for everyone.
posted by Anonymous at 6:00 AM
17 Comments:
I hope there is a complete return to private rooms before I need to be hospitalized. I HATE semi-private rooms.
HB,
I realize I'm going back in time with this question but am I correct in my understanding that the expansion did not create bedspace for additional patients?
Was the thinking more toward outpatient procedures?
I paid little attention during the expansion process, but now that I'm turning 54 this week and facing some potential health issues, these questions ring with more importance to me.
HB,
How many beds are being changed to semi-private?
The 65 million dollar expansion added a few beds overall (less than 10 as I recall), but it allowed conversion to nearly all private rooms at that time.
The administration continued to tell us that by converting to all private rooms and having more monitored beds, we would not need as many additional beds because utilization of the private rooms would be easier.
There are times people with infections had to be isolated and if they were in a semiprivate room, the second bed could not be utilized.
There were many, many discussions and disagreements on not adding more beds, but the administration continued to tout the reasoning given above and therefore we are now in the present situation.
I do not know the exact number being converted back to semi-private.
Everything I read is that the trend in all hospitals is toward private rooms. Patients don't like sharing rooms and, when given a choice, will choose a hospital that offers private rooms over semi-private ones. Apparently, among other things like improving care outcomes, having private rooms becomes a competitive requirement going into the future.
Anonymous 12:29 is correct. Lookat the attached links to see how private rooms are becoming the norm for hospitals:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/09/07/hospitals_scramble_to_meet_demand_for_private_rooms/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13908277/
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/781551/hospitals_move_away_from_roomsharing_for_patients/index.html?source=r_health
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20060801-21542600-bc-us-hospitalbeds.xml
As a staff member at FMHHS,I too hate semi-private rooms. One patient feeds off the other.Trust me I see this enough.Plus its none of the other patient business what is going on with the roommate.I'm get fustrated with the rooms being crowd with equipment and etc. Roommates get in agurements about tv and visitors. I will be glad to see ALL private rooms.Its not only for the patient but also the staff too.
When will private rooms be the norm for nursing homes? How long does a person usually stay in the hospital...few days? Imagine moving to a place where you have to share a 15x20 room with a perfect stranger and knowing you don't get to go back to your own bed at the end of the week. Or the end of the month. Or the end of the year. Wonder when more people will start worrying about THAT before it happens to them... maybe we should worry less about being uncomfortable and lacking privacy for a few days and just count our blessings that we will eventually return to our own homes.
The hospital should have spent the money on making all rooms private instead of the expensive lobby area. If they had they wouldn't have to move patients as many times due to patients that need to be put in isolation, patients arguements, family needs, room needs looking for male and female rooms. This would have saved money in housekeeping, laundry, CNA and nursing time, registration, and notify all the addition departments. This would also make money by being able to charge for a cot if a family member wanted to spend the night. A win win situation. If you ask me. Most people hate having a room mate and with hospital infection rate so high who knows what they have that you might get. You hear everything they have done, you get less rest when people come in to care for them also. I would much ratter have a private room. Wouldn't you?
Anonymous 7:06:
Nursing Home care in Indiana is going to be in a state of crisis before it gets any better. Unfortunately, the Medicaid benefit for nursing home care in Indiana pays for a semi-private room. Very few exceptions can be made. I’m not sure, but I think Medicaid only pays about $150 per day at a nursing home for everything…nursing, food, supplies, etc. That doesn’t go very far.
Patients that pay privately can only do so for a limited time. I have seen families forced to liquidate assets before they qualify for Medicaid, it’s very traumatic for them.
Indiana has put a moratorium on new nursing home beds in Indiana for the next several years. Most nursing home staff work very hard and have extremely demanding jobs.
One thing that continues to get missed with the expansion is the fact that FMHHS increased its critical care beds from 11 to 32. This mean that the acuity level for the ICU/CVCU beds almost triple for these critical care beds
Floyd Memorial does not have enough nurses to take care of the number of patients they have now, adding more beds would only strain the already dangerously overworked nursing staff....most med surg units have a 1:6 nurse pt ratio...Floyds is almost double that.....very unsafe and unfair to the nurses and the patients...but the hospital "looks good", isn't that what its all about??
To Anonymous 03:10
"..most med surg units have a 1:6 nurse patient ratio"
What hospital is that? Please let me know because I would love to work there!
The nurse/patient ratio on most med/surg units at FMHHS is usually 1:9 on days, 1:12 on evening and nights (at the most). (Just what I have seen)
That's when all the staff are able to make it. Some staff are not always reliable...
Please get your facts in order before you start quoting nurse patient ratios. No hospitals have a 1:6 nurse patient ratio for med/surg nursing staff. NO WAY!
Anonymous 9:47, I'm aware of all those things, and see them regularly myself. My comment was more of an attempt to interject a little perspective than a criticism of nursing homes (operationally). Those changes would have to be made with CMS and at the regulatory level rather than in individual facilities. Medicaid reimbursement is determined on what services each resident requires/qualifies for, but the daily rate for room and board isn't far off from the number you gave. Also, the moratorium is in effect indefinitely. It's rumored to be lifted next summer, but I wouldn't count on it. There's no need for it to be lifted yet, and the other changes being implemented with it are far from complete. I'd guess it'll stay in effect another 2-3 years.
Depends on what they're infected with. You can't have someone who has MRSA in the same room with another person who has an open wound, but it's not necessary to have the infected person in a negative pressure room, either. Aren't those usually used for patients who are severely immunocompromised? Like transplant patients?
Negative pressure rooms take "things" that are inside the room such as TB and keep them inside the room. It's pressure is lower on the inside of the room so air from outside the door tries to enter when you open and keeps the bugs isolated as opposed to positive pressure which can do the opposite, however most of the time with the door closed in positive pressure the bugs can be contained if they are not carried out by staff on clothing or equipment or hands. Immunocomprimised pts actually have hepa filters that filter all the particulates out so they don't become contaminated from the outside or inside.
The return to semi private rooms has caused an unexpected responce of anger from paitents. they pass by rooms when being taken to xray and note that most other paitents are in private rooms and ask "why not me?" It is hard to explain the "luck of the draw" to them. some ask to be transferred as soon as possible to a private room. This has also caused the paitent load to increase without increasing the # of nurses or nursing aides. I wonder where it will stop and if they will continue to add more semi-private rooms without adding more staff.
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