Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
3 out of 4 US hospitals already treating virus
WASHINGTON — Three out of four U.S. hospitals surveyed are already treating patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, according to a federal report that finds hospitals expect to be overwhelmed as cases rocket toward their projected peak.
A report Monday from a federal watchdog agency warns that different, widely reported problems are feeding off each other in a vicious cycle. Such problems include insufficient tests, slow results, scarcity of protective gear, the shortage of breathing machines for seriously ill patients and burned-out staffs anxious about their own safety.
“There’s this sort of domino effect,” said Ann Maxwell, an assistant inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services. “These challenges play off each other and exacerbate the situation. There’s a cascade effect.”
The inspector general’s report is based on a telephone survey of 323 hospitals around the U.S., from March 23-27. With hundreds of new coronavirus cases daily, the situation is becoming more dire for many of the nation’s 6,000 hospitals. Others can still scramble to prepare.
“Hospitals reported that their most significant challenges centered on testing and caring for patients with known or suspected COVID-19, and keeping staff safe,” the report concluded.
“It’s likely that every hospital in America is going to have to deal with this,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell said the key insight from the report is that different problems — usually addressed individually — are building on each other to entangle the whole system.
For example, a lack of testing and slow results means hospitals must keep patients with unconfirmed coronavirus disease longer.
That takes up precious beds and uses up protective equipment like gowns, masks and face shields, since doctors and nurses have to assume that patients with symptoms of respiratory distress may be positive.
The increased workload raises stress on clinical staff, who are also concerned they may be unable to properly protect themselves.
“Health care workers feel like they’re at war right now,” a hospital administrator in New York City told the inspector general’s investigators. They “are seeing people in their 30s, 40s, 50s dying. This takes a large emotional toll.” The inspector general’s office did not identify survey respondents due to privacy concerns.
Overtime hours and increased use of supplies are raising costs at the same time that many hospitals experience a revenue crunch because elective surgeries have been canceled. The recently passed federal stimulus bill pumps money to hospitals.
“It is in fact a national challenge, not just from the hot spots, but from all over the country,” Maxwell said. Rural hospitals are vulnerable because they have fewer beds and smaller staffs.