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Austin Travis County’s Medical Director raised concerns about staff, patients and COVID numbers after the holiday weekend
AUSTIN, Texas – Hospitals in the Austin area are once again running out of manned ICU beds.
From Monday evening only two adult beds are available, on Sunday evening from zero. The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) also reports five manned pediatric intensive care beds available.
This applies to an 11 county area that serves nearly 2.4 million people.
The shortage affected Austin Travis County’s Medical Director, Dr. Desmar Walkes.
“We are really concerned if this situation arises,” she said. “We currently have a shortage of staff.”
Dr. Walkes said hospitals in the Austin area are dealing with the shortage of care as best they can. Patients have nowhere to be sent as other hospitals are handling COVID-19 spikes too.
“They are being moved to non-traditional care areas such as the operating room recovery rooms and cath labs, which are typically where heart incisions occur,” said Dr. Walkes.
Selena Xie is an intensive care nurse at an Austin hospital.
“It’s just very emotionally, mentally and physically demanding,” she said.
Xie said the state sent FEMA and travel nurses, which helped, but it wasn’t enough. Xie said the shortage created dangerous working conditions for her and patients.
“I think we’re already seeing patient care deteriorate because we don’t have the staff, so we miss glycemic checks and workload, and we’re already starting to see the effects of that,” Xie said.
Xie said that there is also an element of compassion fatigue. Some nurses get tired of unfriendly patients and families and risk their lives for those who choose not to get vaccinated.
At the weekend, the Trauma Service Area O (TSA O) of Texas – the 11-circle area to which Austin also belongs – had no manned intensive care beds for adults, according to the DSHS. That number has now improved.
As of Sunday, September 5, there was not a single occupied ICU bed available for an adult who needed one, whether the patient needed it because of a COVID-19-related illness or for other reasons. On Sunday there were 245 adults in the TSA O in intensive care beds. Only four occupied pediatric intensive care beds were available in the TSA.
By Monday, September 6th, the availability of occupied intensive care beds had improved a little. Starting September 6, two staffed intensive care beds for adults and five staffed beds for pediatric intensive care units will be available.
It is important to note that this is not necessarily a question of space, but rather the number of beds that can be occupied by healthcare professionals.
Texas is divided into 22 “Trauma Service Areas” or TSAs. TSA O serves nearly 2.4 million people.
Austin Public Health released this statement on Sunday:
“The virus adapts to survive, and so must we. We are seeing little to no available beds in the intensive care unit and increased exposure to hospital staff from the Delta virus and its infection in unvaccinated individuals. We have vaccines that are safe and effective to protect fully vaccinated people from serious illness and death. Each of us is responsible for the safety of our community. Please get vaccinated and wear a mask. “
Here is a look at the statistics of the Trauma Service Area O from Monday:
- Population estimate 2020: 2,375,407
- Laboratory Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Currently In Hospital: 666
- Adult COVID-19 patients in general beds: 404
- Adult COVID-19 patients in intensive care beds: 248
- Pediatric COVID-19 patients in hospitals: Dec.
- Confirmed COVID-19 entries Previous 24 hours: 75
- Confirmed COVID-19 Patients Using Ventilators: 193
- Total hospital beds: 4,240
- Inpatient beds with staff: 3,444
- Available hospital beds with staff: 494
- Available beds in the intensive care unit for adults with staff: 2
- Available staffed pediatric intensive care beds: 5
- Available fans: 360
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