Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Retirees, Med Students Called To Help On Front Lines, But Inexperienced Workers Might Just Add Stress
Politico: New York's Health Care Workforce Braces For Influx Of Retirees, Inexperienced Staffers
As the coronavirus bears down on New York and the biggest U.S. city becomes the epicenter of the national crisis, state officials are scrambling to augment a health care workforce already stretched to capacity and falling prey to the virus itself. New York is reaching into every corner of its medical industry for reinforcements, but a new push for retired workers is raising alarms as older populations are among the most susceptible to the disease. (Young and Eisenberg, 3/26)
The New York Times: Early Graduation Could Send Medical Students To Virus Front Lines
The battle to treat an ever-growing number of patients infected with the new coronavirus just gained its newest recruits: soon-to-be medical graduates. Several medical schools in Massachusetts and New York announced this week that they intended to offer early graduation to their fourth-year students, fast-tracking them into front-line hospital care as the need for medical workers surges. On Tuesday, the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University became the first in the United States to announce an offer of early graduation, in an email to students. That followed similar moves earlier this year in Italy and Britain, which advanced many final-year medical students into intermediate clinical service. (Goldberg, 3/26)
Kaiser Health News: Help Wanted: Retired Doctors And Nurses Don Scrubs Again In Coronavirus Fight
Laura Benson retired from nursing in 2018, but this week she reported for work again in New Rochelle, New York, where the first cluster of COVID-19 cases occurred a few short weeks ago. “Nurses are used to giving of themselves,” she said. “If there’s not enough people, you just do it.” With more than 39,000 confirmed cases, New York is now the epicenter in the U.S. of the novel coronavirus outbreak, accounting for almost half of the more than 85,500 cases nationwide as of late Thursday evening. (Andrews, 3/27)
WBUR: Baker Requests Federal Disaster Assistance, Asks Med Schools To Graduate Students Early
Gov. Charlie Baker gave an update on the state's coronavirus response Thursday afternoon, making a number of new announcements alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders. Here's a breakdown of what they said. (Mitchell, 3/26)
Kaiser Health News: Physicians Fear For Their Families As They Battle Coronavirus With Too Little Armor
Dr. Jessica Kiss’ twin girls cry most mornings when she goes to work. They’re 9, old enough to know she could catch the coronavirus from her patients and get so sick she could die. Kiss shares that fear, and worries at least as much about bringing the virus home to her family — especially since she depends on a mask more than a week old to protect her. (Ungar, 3/27)
The Associated Press: On NYC's Front Lines, Health Workers Worry They Will Be Next
A nurse died from coronavirus after working nonstop for weeks at a hospital where staffers frustrated with dwindling supplies posed in gowns made of trash bags. An emergency room doctor fears he had the virus long before getting too sick to work. Another nurse worries the lone mask she’s issued each day won’t be enough to protect her from an unending tide of hacking, feverish patients. (Condon, Mustian and Peltz, 3/27)
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Speeds Licensing For New Doctors, Nurses In 'surge' Against Coronavirus
Louisiana officials say they are fast-tracking licenses for new doctors and nurses, and in one case moving up the date a medical school's students will receive their diplomas, to inject more health care providers into the fight against the coronavirus. In addition to critical care beds and ventilators, Louisiana is in desperate need of doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists to care for COVID-19 patients, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday. (Sledge, 3/26)
The New York Times: A N.Y. Nurse Dies. Angry Co-Workers Blame A Lack Of Protective Gear.
Kious Kelly, a nurse manager at a Manhattan hospital, texted his sister on March 18 with some devastating news: He had tested positive for the coronavirus and was on a ventilator in the intensive care unit. He told her he could text but not talk. “I’m okay. Don’t tell Mom and Dad. They’ll worry,” he wrote to his sister, Marya Patrice Sherron. That was his last message. Ms. Sherron’s subsequent texts to him went unanswered. In less than a week, he was dead. (Sengupta, 3/26)
Sacramento Bee: UC Davis Med Center Staff Fear Patient Exposure To Coronavirus
When he announced that employees of the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento had tested positive for coronavirus, health system CEO David Lubarsky cast blame on the outside world as “very likely” responsible.He noted the hospital’s own infection-control regime for nurses, doctors and other medical staff, and said, “We simply can’t be protected outside of work.” Lubarsky said he expected many more infections among his employees in the days to come as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads.Now, some employees of the healthcare network that employs 11,310 full- and part-time workers are pushing back. They contend it’s preposterous to suggest that UC Davis Medical Center employees haven’t been infected by contact with patients at the facility. (Sabalow, 3/26)
San Francisco Chronicle: Health Care Worker In SF General Hospital’s Emergency Room Infected With Coronavirus
An emergency room staff member at San Francisco General Hospital that had direct contact with patients has tested positive for COVID-19, according to an internal staff memo obtained by The Chronicle on Thursday.Officials are conducting a “thorough contact investigation to determine further steps to ensure safety” in the emergency department, according to the memo, sent to employees by hospital CEO Susan Ehrlich on Thursday afternoon. (Thadani, 3/25)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Starbucks Offers A Free Tall Coffee For Health Care Workers
Starbucks chains across the United States are giving away a free coffee to first responders and medical workers to thank them for fighting the coronavirus — to-go only, of course. The coffee chain announced Tuesday that any firefighter, police officer, paramedic, doctor, nurse, hospital staff or researcher can claim a free tall hot or iced coffee. (Elder, 3/26)
Sacramento Bee: Companies Offer Freebies To Healthcare Workers Amid COVID-19
Healthcare workers are on the front lines of the global coronavirus pandemic and several companies are showing their appreciation by offering freebies to medical personnel. From free coffee to free shoes, here’s how companies are stepping in to help. (White, 3/26)
Boston Globe: More Than 160 Boston Hospital Workers Test Positive For Coronavirus
Major hospitals in Boston are seeing a steep rise in the number of infected workers, a doubling to more than 160 in the past two days, which officials believe may be more attributable to community spread than contact with infected patients. At Massachusetts General Hospital, 41 members of the staff have tested positive for COVID-19, a quadrupling from earlier in the week, and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 51 employees have been infected, up from 33 two days ago. (McCluskey, 3/26)
Modern Healthcare: UChicago Medicine Brings Back Employees Exposed To COVID-19
As COVID-19 spreads—Illinois reported 673 new cases today—hospitals across the state are working to ensure they have enough staff to safely care for patients. Some are bringing back retired clinicians. At least one is bringing back workers who may have the virus. University of Chicago Medicine today announced that, starting tomorrow, it's bringing back workers who were furloughed after a potential exposure to COVID-19. Only asymptomatic faculty and staff will return to work, while those who have tested positive for the virus or are exhibiting symptoms will stay home. (Goldberg, 3/26)
