epidemic is uncontrollable, and there is a shortage of frontline nurses

The U.S. epidemic is uncontrollable and there is a shortage of frontline nurses
November 04, 2020 Xinhuanet

At present, the new crown epidemic continues to raging in the United States, and many areas are in short supply of nurses.

The U.S. epidemic is uncontrollable, and there is a shortage of frontline nurses, especially in rural areas and smaller medical institutions.

Some hospitals provide temporary training for nurses with inadequate professional experience, or cut part of the clinic services to ensure that there are enough manpower for critically ill patients. There are also hospitals recruiting nurses from other places.

Kevin Fitzpatrick, a nurse in the emergency room of the Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Michigan, said that some experienced nurses were “overwhelmed” by the epidemic and chose to resign and move to a relatively easy job. “It’s not easy to find someone to replace them.”

Fitzpatrick said that his emergency room nurses are about 5 fewer than usual when they are at their fullest, and each person usually needs to take care of 4 new crown patients.

Karen Tanglan, a professor at the School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, said that so far, there are limited data to study how the new crown epidemic affects the nurse population in the United States, but some hospitals have previously had the hidden danger of understaffing, and the outbreak has worsened the problem.

Apple Hansen, executive vice president of the Aya Health Care Center in San Diego, California, said that with the surge in cases across the United States, hospitals across the country are scrambling for nurse resources, offering weekly salaries ranging from $1,500 to more than $5,000.

Nurse Robert Gardner was hired to serve in a small town hospital near Atlanta, Georgia. He participated in the rescue after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, saying that the current epidemic situation is “much worse”, and he is more worried that the arrival of the flu season will increase the burden on hospitals.

At present, the cumulative number of new crown cases in the United States has exceeded 9 million, and the number of daily cases in the 47 states in the United States is on the rise.