Psychiatric Hospital Personnel Worry They’ll Be Forgotten As Attention Focuses On Front-Line Workers
Psychiatric hospitals present special challenges to the strictures of social distancing, since many patients are allowed to come and go, in and out of the center, and once inside, they are not cloistered. This is creating a dangerous atmosphere for the staff working in the hospitals. In other provider news: new safety precautions pay off, certificate-of-need laws challenged, pay is being slashed for front-line workers, and more.
The New York Times:
‘They Want To Forget Us’: Psychiatric Hospital Workers Feel Exposed
By mid-March, the staff at the Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg, N.Y., was growing frustrated. Patients in the center’s two inpatient buildings were continuing to gather for daily group therapy sessions, making social distancing difficult, and some workers believed they needed to stop. There were not enough test kits or protective gear, workers said. And some worried that patients being transferred from hospitals in New York City had not been adequately screened for the coronavirus. (Hakim, 4/24)
The New York Times:
How A Triage Nurse Spends Her Sundays
“The amount of people who can’t breathe, who are coming in with respiratory issues, is overwhelming,” said Marina DiMattia, a triage nurse at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. But, she added, “in between gasps of air, they thank us.” The gratitude among patients “has been remarkable,” she said. “It makes me think I can keep doing this.” Ms. DiMattia, 29, lives in Long Island City, Queens, with her boyfriend, Daniel Bulgrin, 29, a market researcher. (Strauss, 4/24)
WBUR:
Coronavirus Diagnoses In Staff Drop By Half After Boston Hospital Requires Masks For All
After Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston began requiring that nearly everyone in the hospital wear masks, new coronavirus infections diagnosed in its staffers dropped by half — or more. Brigham and Women’s epidemiologist Dr. Michael Klompas said the hospital mandated masks for all health care staffers on March 25, and extended the requirement to patients as well on April 6. (Goldberg, 4/23)
Modern Healthcare:
Healthcare Professionals Take Aim At Certificate-Of-Need Laws
Medical professionals in Nebraska and North Carolina challenged the constitutionality of the states' certificate-of-need laws, alleging in lawsuits filed Thursday that they reduce access to care and inflate costs. A North Carolina ophthalmologist and the owner of Nebraska healthcare transportation and home health companies filed lawsuits claiming that CON laws unlawfully prevented them from expanding or establishing their businesses. They allege certificates of need violate the anti-monopoly clause in the Constitution and its prohibition on special privileges, among other provisions. (Kacik, 4/23)
WBUR:
Trauma On The Pandemic's Front Line Leaves Health Workers Reeling
Hospital workers around the world face similar, sustained trauma, and it's taking an emotional toll. A recent study underscored the severity of those risks: Half of Chinese health care workers studied who treated COVID-19 patients earlier this year now suffer from depression. Nearly as many — 44.6% — have anxiety, and a third have insomnia. (Noguchi, 4/23)
Houston Chronicle:
As Frontline Emergency Doctors Risk All To Fight COVID-19, Their Pay Is Slashed
As the nation cheers its emergency room physicians as warriors fighting a pandemic, the big-money firms who employ them are quietly slashing doctors’ income to make up for shortfalls in corporate revenue. Across Houston’s largest hospital systems, some emergency room doctors are reporting their overall income has dropped as much as 25 percent either through direct pay cuts, reduced hours or both — even as the number of COVID-19 patients continues to climb in the region. (Deam, 4/23)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Gwinnett Cops Celebrate Healthcare Workers Fighting COVID-19
Law enforcement officials in Gwinnett County gathered Wednesday in a show of support for those who have, for weeks, been on the front lines combating the COVID-19 pandemic: healthcare workers. Officers from “every agency in Gwinnett County” convened outside Northside Hospital Gwinnett to hold a parade for healthcare workers, the Lawrenceville Police Department said in a tweet. (Burns, 4/23)
