Presbyterian Española Hospital becomes ninth medical facility in state to implement crisis standards of care | Local News

Another medical facility in northern New Mexico has enacted crisis care standards, which means its facility is so full of patients or so short on staff that it has to make special considerations about who gets treatment.

Presbyterian Española Hospital issued a statement last week, saying, among other things, that it was facing a “significantly increasing staff shortage.”

The issues driving crisis standards can result in increased wait times in emergency rooms, patient transfers to other hospitals with more capacity, and delays in surgeries.

The Holy Cross Medical Center in Taos also declared crisis standards last week. Along with Presbyterian Española Hospital, at least nine medical facilities in New Mexico have officially declared crisis standards of care in the past two months.

The designation reflects the serious shortage of hospital resources in a state that experts say has struggled with the problem under normal circumstances and has been particularly tested by the coronavirus pandemic.

Presbyterian said in a statement Monday that “relentlessly high patient numbers” have contributed to the problem.

Presbyterian and the New Mexico Hospital Association also noted limited supplies of effective monoclonal antibody treatments that have successfully helped certain COVID-19 patients avoid hospitalization.

Some forms of treatment are not as effective against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus as they are against the Delta variant, which has previously swept through the state. Omicron has replaced Delta as the dominant variant nationwide.

The state Department of Health said hospitals could enter crisis care standards in late 2020 and again in October. The agency was closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so a full list of hospitals under crisis standards could not be ascertained.

State crisis designation, as well as individual hospital crisis declarations, assist these facilities by allowing them to prioritize care based on the severity of a patient’s condition. Receive staff assistance from the state and federal governments; and get legal protection for doctors and others who have to work outside of their normal practice.

Presbyterian Healthcare Services has previously placed three of its hospitals — the main hospital in downtown Albuquerque; Kaseman Hospital, also in Albuquerque; and Rust Medical Center in Rio Rancho – in Crisis Care Standards.

Others that have declared crisis standards include San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, and UNM’s Sandoval Regional Medical Center in Rio Rancho.

Troy Clark, president and CEO of the New Mexico Hospital Association, said in a statement Monday his organization is “working with state officials and lawmakers during the legislative process to raise funds to provide much-needed relief to our hospitals and their strained staff.” “.

The relief could help keep hospital staff in place and help hospitals recruit additional staff, Clark said.