As COVID infections swarm Houston hospitals, nurses bear burden of staff shortages
Houston Chronicle, December 29, 2021
UTMB Health, anchored by the John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, had to close beds and assign more patients to each nurse. Elective surgeries that require a bed for recovery are being delayed, said Dr. Gulshan Sharma, vice president and chief medical officer, for UTMB Health. About 400 of UTMB’s employees — including 200 of the system’s 4,000 health care workers — tested positive for coronavirus, more than double the number who tested positive during the delta surge. “There is not a dedicated COVID staff or non-COVID staff. Patients still continue to have heart attacks or stroke complications from their chronic diseases, and they show up to our (emergency rooms),” Sharma said. “But our (emergency room) volume is up by almost 50 percent compared to last week.”