The largest hospital in Vermont has called off emergency staffing procedures enacted after Covid-19 sidelined too many staff members to continue normal operations.
Late last week, as patient volumes began to decline, University of Vermont Medical Center officials halted the plan, according to Annie Mackin. She said that hospital leaders may need to reinstate it if the Burlington hospital fills up again in the future.
As of Tuesday morning, 83% of the 416 licensed beds at the UVM Medical Center were filled, Mackin said. Roughly half the slots in the emergency department were occupied by adults and children needing psychiatric care. The hospital’s 46-bed intensive care unit had 13 open beds, she said.
Emergency staffing procedures are an extraordinary — and typically temporary — measure hospitals can employ to make sure they have enough staff members on hand to remain open. If staffing levels become inadequate, hospitals may have to turn patients away and refuse transfers.
The plan involved redeploying medical staff, such as executives and nurse managers, to areas of highest need at the hospital.
Hospitals generally prefer to avoid these procedures because of the strain it puts on staff and on other operations of the medical center.Â
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