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October 06, 2022 : Wellstar’s Atlanta Medical Center diverting Ambulances and the discontinuance of the hospital approaches, nurses at other area hospitals expressed they are already feeling the strain.
“We were just currently processing the November 1st closure and now we’re having a strategy that even sooner. And so we’re seeing a lot of the trickle-down impact in the other hospitals of holding to take more patients when we already don’t have room for them,” Ashley Blackmon spoke.
Alongside being a nurse practitioner, Blackmon serves as the president of the United Advanced Practice Registered Nurses of Georgia. She spoke with nurses she’s been in contact with who were already concerned about staffing rations when it was declared AMC would close.
Now, she says the addition of hospital beds and the increasing number of patients requiring emergency care are also causing other hospitals to redirect.
“They said each unit is like having to scoop beds over so that they can make room for new beds,” she said. “So each unit is adding one or two more beds, but that’s still not responding a staffing question.”
The Georgia Coordinating Center directed emergency departments at Grady Memorial Hospital, Emory University Hospital Midtown, and Piedmont Atlanta Hospital were harshly overcrowded during the day on Wednesday.
Piedmont Healthcare sent the subsequent statement to 11Alive:
“Piedmont Atlanta stands prepared to serve our community during this transition. We are constantly assessing our capacity to ensure appropriate resources and improving clinical staffing to continue providing high-quality care.”
Blackmon stated even with the preparation, and the issue extends beyond patients.
“The bulk of health care workers are already burned out and are already considering leaving the profession,” she expressed.
