• Updated: Feb. 12, 2021 7:07 p.m.
arrow Nurse at Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital goes on strike over safe staffing issues during the coronavirus pandemic, in New Rochelle. Mark Lennihan/AP/Shutterstock
When the first wave of COVID-19 hit Brooklyn Hospital Center, April Kehoe often found herself rushing between six different patients in a makeshift Intensive Care Unit far more than the one- or two- patient caseload typically considered safe for nurses in this setting.
The second surge has brought fewer hospitalizations, but Kehoe says the staffing shortages remain. She is still routinely assigned three or four intensive care patients at a time, a situation she says increases the risk of making medication errors or missing changes in a patient’s status.
She cries at least once every shift from sheer emotional exhaustion, said a nurse at the St. Luke’s Campus of the Mohawk Valley Health System.
“You just look at your patients and they’re not getting better,” said the nurse who has been caring for patients with COVID-19 at the New Hartford hospital.
One day five patients died, she said. “That’s disturbing on every level,” said the nurse, whose name is being withheld because she fears retaliation for talking to the media without permission.
This nurse and seven others five from the health system’s St. Elizabeth Campus in Utica and three from the St. Luke’s Campus told remarkably similar stories of trying to care for too many patients with too little help as the number of COVID-19 patients surged in January.
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PUBLISHED 7:50 PM ET Feb. 02, 2021 PUBLISHED 7:50 PM EST Feb. 02, 2021
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New York State Attorney General Letitia James released a report last week that showed many nursing home facilities were severely understaffed during the pandemic, putting residents and staff more at risk.
On Tuesday, a bill advanced through the New York State Assembly health committee that would create a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio for both hospitals and nursing home facilities.
Assembly sponsor of the bill, Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, said this pandemic served as a wake-up call and emphasized the need for safer staffing levels in these facilities.
“We’re not trying to hurt anybody. We’re not trying to hurt finances of the hospitals. But we are trying to improve the quality of care in New York state and provide the care that is necessary for the patients we care for, Gunther said.