Staffing Levels Critical at Johnstown Hospital

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

"It's only a matter of time until someone really gets hurt or we lose a baby."
That's what one employee of the Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center told a surveyor from the Pennsylvania Health Department during a recent investigation of chronic staff shortages in the obstetrical department.
The employee was only one of more than 10 who told the surveyors that conditions in the department were at the breaking point.
"We're all afraid of retaliation. Many of our patients are at risk," another employee said, adding that some employees were working "80, 90, or 100 hours per week."
The complaints and concerns were included in a recently released report from the state health agency.
"The facility failed to ensure that a sufficient number of nursing personnel were assigned to provide nursing care needs of patients," the report concludes.
The report also cites the facility for failure to complete a series of required forms when staffers were assigned to work beyond their regularly assigned hours.'
The report stops just short of concluding that the hospital was in violation of a 2009 law placing limits on the number of overtime hours direct care staffers can be required to work. Surveyors did conclude that a review of staffing records showed multiple shifts were not staffed according to the hospital's own staffing guidelines.
The hospital did file a plan of correction in which it promised to hire additional registered nurses and to implement monitoring and audit programs to ensure that sufficient staffing was maintained.
The employees interviewed by the state also cited high turnover of staff due to the increased hours.
"Staff is very unhappy," one employee related noting that staffers were often forced to work a full 12 hour shift without even a lunch break.
"This is the worst it's ever been," a veteran staffer stated, citing a "vicious cycle" when frustrated employees quit leaving the remaining staff with even more work.
The surveyors found that between Jan. 1, 2018 and March 22. 2019 there were 77 instances when staffers were required to work beyond scheduled hours.
The report is not the first in which state health officials questioned the adequacy of staff levels. Two recent reports raised the same issue at two Wilkes Barre health facilities.