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markydsade t1_iyctvem wrote

Reply to comment by OustedStrongman in Maine is out of pediatric hospital beds. “As of Nov. 24, about 30,000 of the country's 40,000 pediatric hospital beds were available. Five states are at 90% capacity or higher. Currently the most overwhelmed state is Maine, at 109% capacity” by membaberry18

People don’t realize how few hospital beds are available day to day. The trick in normal times is to have 80-90% usage. It’s very expensive to have 24-7 staff so you’ll never have hundreds of empty beds standing by. The pandemic destroyed this model as it didn’t take much to overwhelm the system. This was the reason for lockdowns-just an attempt to keep hospitals from being even more overwhelmed.

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DMvsPC t1_iyenjqh wrote

Not even that, Mercy for example is canceling nurse shifts leaving at times only two on the floor so they don't have to pay them for the day.

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markydsade t1_iyfcxsm wrote

As a nurse for over 40 I’ve been driven crazy by the lean staffing practices of hospitals. One person calls out and everything gets worse for the remaining nurses. This gets them exhausted and then more likely to get sick. Rinse and repeat.

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