Staffing shortages: hospitals reach breaking point

All over the country, covid cases are falling. The variant may have caused less severe illnesses, but inside many of the country's hospitals, work is demanding. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), around 400,000 healthcare workers have left their jobs since the beginning of the pandemic. Last month, hospitals in 18 states reported critical staff shortages. 

Alyssa Parra, a supervising nurse at the University of Louisville Hospital says, "We are holding admitted patients in the emergency department for days upon days." Patients are kept in the ER because there are no beds. She adds, "I feel like everybody is in survival mode. And not only just us in the emergency department. I think the whole hospital is."

Parra says that the hospital's ER has had the least number of nurses ever. According to her, many of them stepped away from the job and needed a mental break from it. She adds that the job is difficult but it is getting more difficult by the day. The contagious Omicron variant has stretched the staff thinner in the hospital. Last month around 450 employees called in sick on the same day. 

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Source: CBS News