An Understaffed Hospital Battles COVID-19

David Scales

doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00810

An Understaffed Hospital Battles COVID-19

Health Aff (Millwood). 2020 Aug;39(8):1450-1452. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00810.

Author

David Scales¹

Affiliation

¹ David Scales ([email protected]) is a medical sociologist and an assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York, New York. The author thanks Tabitha Decker, Laura Kolbe, Chad Parmet, and Brendan Reilly for helpful comments on early drafts and an anonymous reviewer for their comments and suggested readings. The patient and hospital have not been named to protect confidentiality. All errors remain the author's own. This essay is part of a collection of reflections on the COVID-19 pandemic.

PMID: 32744940
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00810

Abstract

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing ratios reached untenable levels.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Health Policy; Health disparities; Hospital medical staff; Hospital systems; Intensive care; Intensive care units; Mortality; Nurses; Nursing; Nursing staffing; Pandemics; Patient safety; Quality of care; Safety net hospitals; Staffing ratios.

MeSH terms

COVID-19
Cause of Death
Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
Coronavirus Infections / therapy*
Disease Progression
Female
Hospital Mortality / trends*
Hospitals, Community / organization & administration
Humans
Intensive Care Units / organization & administration*
Male
Narration
New York City
Pandemics / prevention & control
Pandemics / statistics & numerical data*
Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
Pneumonia, Viral / therapy*
Risk Assessment
Workforce / organization & administration*