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ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOV) — Meeting the demands of a pandemic while being understaffed is a challenge nurses locally are finding themselves facing.
“We have to pivot on a dime just to assure we can support the community,” said Robyn Weilbacher with Mercy Hospital.
Mercy Hospital’s top nurse in charge, Weilbacher, says they’ve been preparing for the worst for months.
“The conversations are now more around resilience and how to maintain,” she said.
With peak COVID-19 cases surpassing spring numbers, and ICU units reaching capacity, she says it’s starting to put a strain on the 2,0000 nurses within Mercy’s system.
According to the Missouri Hospital Association, 10 percent of registered nursing positions are unfilled statewide. In the St. Louis region, the vacancy rate is 9.1 percent, which is paralleled with a 15.2 percent turnover rate.
Monday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported record-breaking numbers. A total of 600 coronavirus patients were in local hospitals, the highest in a single-day total since tracking began. The previous high was 580 on April 20.
Dr. Alex Garza with the task force said the region is heading in the wrong direction.
“The virus is spreading way too quickly and making too many people sick,” Garza said Monday. “Right now, really, the virus is winning. There is absolutely no way that we can sustain this pace.”
“What happens in the next couple of weeks may be unlike anything we ever saw in March, so that’s where those crisis plans will come into play,” said Weilbacher.
Weilbacher says to meet the demand, they’re creating flexible schedules, adopting team nursing where other medical professionals are helping to support nurses, and looking at clinical nurses in non-clinical roles to use as support.
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