Nursing shortage causes area’s only level 1 trauma center to close part of emergency department

It is the hospital that southern New England counts on to treat our seriously injured and sick yet it has been revealed that even they are not immune from the nursing shortage.

The emergency center at Rhode Island Hospital is the only Level I trauma center in the area, which makes it even more troubling that they are short on nurses to the point that Thursday part of the emergency department was forced to close, according to the Boston Globe.

The part of the emergency department that closed is called the C-pod which is a fluid unit that has been used for different patient types, including an inpatient holding unit, a unit for moderately acute patients, and a COVID-19 isolation unit.

The staff shortage was also impacting ER wait times as patients were seeing a 5-6 hour wait or longer.

Several factors have caused the nursing shortage that is being felt across the country. A larger population of older adults, nursing burnout, and more Americans accessing care due to the Affordable care act among them.

According to Lifespan,“the recent staffing shortages from leaves of absences, daily call-outs, and resignations for travel nurse opportunities make it difficult to staff the (c-pod) consistently.”

Hospital officials ask that patients who do not require emergency care contact their primary care physician or seek care at an urgent care facility.