ICU nurse says Upstate hospital facing nurse shortage, staff is 'drowning'
In a statement responding to these concerns, Prisma Health says South Carolina's nursing shortage ranks as the fourth-highest in the United States
In a statement responding to these concerns, Prisma Health says South Carolina's nursing shortage ranks as the fourth-highest in the United States
In a statement responding to these concerns, Prisma Health says South Carolina's nursing shortage ranks as the fourth-highest in the United States
Nurses in the Upstate are feeling the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One nurse says he doesn't know how much more they can take. Starting as an ICU nurse at the beginning of the pandemic, he says it's been fight or flight mode ever since.
"We really are a sinking ship right now and we need help," he said.
This nurse wanted to keep his identity anonymous, but says he works in the ICU at Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital. He says they're teetering on the edge of not being able to take care of everyone inundating the hospital.
“We are running overtime constantly, and I don’t know a nurse who isn’t working overtime at this point,” he said.
He says the nurses are drowning, saying they're facing an exodus of nurses.
“An ICU nurse typically takes two patients and sometimes, one to one with a patient that is very, very sick," he said. "Right now, we’re taking one to three and have been put in situations where it’s one nurse to four ICU patients.”
Inside the hospital walls, he says things are dire.
“There have been times where we have been so overtaxed that we are critically low on medications, that we really have to prioritize who needs it first,” he said.
This nurse says these are daily struggles for health care workers everywhere.
"ERs are full," he said. "Patients are in the hallways. ERs are having such a backlog that ambulances have to sit outside with patients in the driveway, waiting for a spot to open up so they can get triaged. Patients are being held in those areas, waiting for floor beds, ICU beds. ICU beds are such a hot commodity.”
He says they've begged the hospital for more resources, equipment and staffing. He also says they're no longer being paid COVID-19 hazard pay like they were at another point in the pandemic.
“We get met with blanket statements that are not specifically addressing the concerns, as if they’re not really there,” he said.
He says these shortages and conditions are forcing him to walk away.
“I had to make the hard decision to leave my dream job," he said.
In fear of the pandemic getting worse, he worries the patients will suffer.
“Otherwise, we will have hospitals with beds that don’t have staff to take care of them," he said.
WYFF News 4 brought these concerns to Prisma Health. Carolyn Swinton, Prisma Health Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer responded with the following statement:
"Prisma Health continues to work hard to proactively 'surge up' and create additional space and staff resources to treat patients as needed – and will continue to take necessary steps to ensure we’re ready to provide care, whether it’s for COVID-19, everyday emergencies or ongoing care. We are so very grateful to our nurses and their unwavering commitment to provide compassionate care to our patients and families. We know this is a challenging situation, which is why our leaders are routinely rounding to hear the concerns of our front-line team members.
South Carolina’s projected nursing shortage is now ranked as the fourth highest in the United States, according to RegisteredNursing.org. We are aggressively recruiting to narrow any potential staffing gaps and are offering extra shift incentives as well as sign-on and referral bonuses. The organization continues to explore additional options. National travel nursing demand is more than 281% higher than this time last year, making it difficult to find enough travelers to quickly meet our staffing needs. Demand for emergency department nurses has risen particularly sharply and is 705% higher than pre-COVID.
We continue using an all-hands-on-deck strategy to navigate emergency situations so that all patients receive the care they need. For example, team members from many departments are being asked to temporarily provide support in critical need areas in the hospitals as is appropriate. This allows the most highly-trained clinicians to focus on direct care for more patients.
We monitor closely our staffing, equipment and resource needs so that we can shift needs throughout our system in order to better support individual hospitals and any patient needs. We ask that the public do its part as well by please getting vaccinated and taking additional steps like masking, social distancing and avoiding large crowds."