South Lincoln Medical Center in Kemmerer, Wyo., will stop providing labor and delivery services beginning June 1 as the critical access hospital grapples with workforce challenges, according to the hospital's website.
Beginning June 1, the operating room also will no longer be available around the clock for emergency surgeries, according to the website. The hospital is not ending same-day surgical services, scheduled for weekdays. Physicians will continue to provide surgical care.
The hospital cited the inability to recruit staff as the reasoning behind the decision.
"South Lincoln Hospital District has been unable to recruit the number of surgical nurses required to maintain the availability of a surgical team all the time. Without a surgical team available all the time, it is unsafe to support an obstetric patient in a planned delivery at SLHD," the hospital said on its website.
Other hospitals in the U.S. have also had to close medical departments or end services to bolster finances, focus on more in-demand services or address workforce shortages.