[ Global Times Special Correspondent in the United States Wang Sisi Global Times Reporter Ding Yazhi Chen Zishuai] NBC reported on the 11th that hospitals across the United States are preparing for the severe situation this winter. In addition to the new crown pneumonia, medical staff are expected to deal with large-scale flu and other respiratory diseases. The American magazine Becker Hospital Review published an article saying that more and more signs indicate that the United States may face a surge in COVID-19 cases in winter, and with the arrival of the flu season, the US health care system is under tremendous pressure.
"The hospital is almost unable to operate properly"
NBC reported that as the temperature drops, people are gathering more indoors, which will cause a surge in COVID-19 cases. Currently, the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States exceeds 10,000 every day. According to the forecast of Mayo Clinic, a well-known comprehensive medical institution in the United States, the number of confirmed cases of new crown in the United States will increase by more than 10% in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that influenza cases are increasing in parts of the United States, and pediatricians are receiving more and more children infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and enterovirus.
On August 31, nurses at a medical center in New York protested against the shortage of staff.
National Public Radio (NPR) reported on the 11th that emergency rooms across the United States were crowded with sick children, and some pediatric hospitals were helplessly saying that beds were in short supply. Experts say that although the surge in respiratory infections in cases in winter is the norm, this year's epidemic season came earlier and the number of patients was abnormal. "It's the flu season, and the increase in the number of hospitalizations in the new crown will put significant pressure on the medical system of Boston Boston ," said Carlos, vice president of Emory University School of Medicine, said, "If you go to any hospital in the United States, they will tell you: they are very busy." However, under the pressure of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, it is difficult to find a bed in the hospital, and many children can only take oxygen at home. Kalu, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Duke Children's Hospital, said, "As more children are infected with respiratory viruses, similar situations will occur in adult groups." Kalu also said, "Due to tight funds and shortage of staff, hospitals are almost unable to operate normally. More and more people need medical assistance, but fewer beds are available. This will create more and more problems." The severe shortage of medical staff in
The huge pressure faced by the medical system has continued to worsen the shortage of medical staff in the United States. NBC reported that a recent survey by the non-profit Peterson Healthcare Center showed that the turnover rate of medical staff was 23% higher than when the outbreak of the epidemic. According to , the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics , by 2030, the employment gap in the U.S. nurse occupation will exceed 275,000.
According to a report released by HPAE, the state's largest healthcare workers union, shows that three-quarters of clinical nurses in the state have recently considered resigning. Most nurses believe that the quality of nursing in the hospital is "becoming worse and worse", and 75% of nurses believe that "the safety of the hospital is getting worse and worse." During the pandemic, many nurses have increased their working hours per shift by two to four hours, and sometimes they have to take care of double the patient. This high-intensity, low-paying and lack of security work has sparked protests from nurses. According to the United States, more than 15,000 nurses in 16 hospitals in Twin Cities and Duluth took a three-day strike in September. The nurses on strike believed that the shortage of staff was not safe for nurses and patients.
When medical staff works in high-pressure environments, the CDC relaxes relevant epidemic prevention regulations: medical institutions in areas with non-high transmission levels can "option not to require" all doctors, patients and visitors to wear masks. According to the American medical journal Medical News Today, medical staff are dissatisfied with the new rules and they criticized the new rules on Twitter. Brown University MD Lanney said, "The logic of CDC 'is unintelligible'."
More than Countries are facing similar problems
In the upcoming winter, not only the United States, but many Hyperics systems in Western countries are also facing the dilemma of shortage of medical staff.According to Canada's Toronto City News, due to the increase in patients, the shortage of hospitals is becoming more and more significant, and the waiting time for patients to visit the hospital will become longer.
According to the British Nursing Times, from September 27 to October 5, 9,631 people were hospitalized in England due to the new crown. The British " Guardian " reported that at least eight hospitals have declared a state of emergency, canceling the surgery or requiring people not to come to the emergency room unless they are seriously ill. Boyle, the incoming president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said, "Our system resources are insufficient, there are not enough beds, and there is no labor to meet our needs." The Guardian reported on the 12th that the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to take urgent and continuous measures to deal with the "very serious" crisis of "long-term COVID-19" (the long-term sequelae of new crown). He warned that the "Crown Coronavirus" is destroying the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of people and causing serious damage to the health systems and economies of various countries. WHO estimates that about 10%-20% of survivors of COVID-19 suffer from "the new coronavirus" and have symptoms such as fatigue, dyspnea and cognitive dysfunction.
Source: Global Times
