Miami hospitals have had to enlist out-of state travel nurses for their intensive care units.
Hospitals are nervously eyeing, post-holiday infection surges, seasonal bumps in patients, and the unpredictability of new coronavirus variants that are thought to be more infectious, and brutal surges across the country have made it harder to hire more nurses.
The national death toll hit 400,306 a total of 7,534 people hospitalized statewide.
Across the state, hospitals and counties are also grappling with vaccine rollout, getting shots in the arms of front-line healthcare workers, seniors and people with underlying health conditions.
Nurses administering vaccines are generally employee health nurses, nurses from satellite clinics and nurses from other areas that are not involved in direct patient care. Some hospitals are offering bonuses to hire new nurses and are moving more senior nurses to direct patient care roles.
Cancellation of elective surgeries in some states
has helped with staffing issues, too, he said.
“There are many reports of front-line healthcare workers getting infected and have
to be reassigned,” he said. “With the vaccine rollout, I’m hopeful we can control the
spread of the disease and put an end to this issue of hospitals running to full
capacity.
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