Hospital RN Shortage Triggers Walkaways

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Nearly a dozen patients at a rural Pennsylvania hospital apparently gave up and walked away after waiting an extended time to be seen in the emergency room.
A state inspection report on the Conemaugh Miners Medical Center cited the facility for failing to ensure the availability of nursing personnel for initial assessments.
Of the 11 patients who walked away was a psychiatric patient who ran away multiple times and was finally found hiding in nearby woods.
State surveyors also cited the hospital for failing to identify a patient who was at risk for self harm and for failing to initiate a one on one observation for a patient at risk for suicide.
Reviewing hospital records, the surveyors found that some patients were kept waiting for over an hour before they gave up and walked out.
Eleven patients of 30 patient files reviewed showed no initial assessments, according to the report on the 30 bed hospital in Cambria county. The hospital is part of the Conemaugh Health System.
An examination of the hospital's staffing records showed that at multiple times only one registered nurse was on duty in critical care areas including the emergency room.
Interviews with hospital employees showed a continuing and worsening problem with staffing.
"All weekend there was one registered nurse in the emergency room," one employee told state inspectors.
Records showed only one nurse was on duty for five of 42 shifts reviewed.
"We lost seven registered nurses since February. None were replaced," the surveyors were told. "Staff are getting bitter about working by themselves.
Another employee described filling out a form reporting "unsafe staffing."
"There is nothing I can do to make this better at this time," another employee said expressing frustration
The hospital filed a plan of correction in which it described renewed efforts to recruit additional registered nurses and licensed practical nurses.
Hospital officials said it was their goal to have an initial assessment performed on emergency room patients within 10 minutes of arrival.
Conemaugh is one of several Pennsylvania hospitals cited in recent months for staff shortages, particularly in emergency rooms. In fact a sister facility, the Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, was cited last summer for severe and chronic staff shortages.
"It's only a matter of time until someone really gets hurt or we lose a baby," an employee told state surveyors.
In the most recent case a patient at York Hospital died in the emergency room when staffers assumed the patient had left when he didn't respond when his name was called. Staff shortages were cited as a contributing cause.
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