Fayetteville, Ark.-based Washington Regional Medical Center is refining its phased surge plan as hospitals across pockets of Arkansas and Missouri report large influxes of COVID-19 patients.
Becker's talked with Birch Wright, hospital administrator and COO, about Washington Regional Medical Center's phased surge plan, which is activated as needed and allows the hospital to quickly pivot resources to areas of highest need.
Washington Regional is the area's go-to hospital, Mr. Wright said, noting that the health system includes more than 3,200 team members and 55 clinics throughout the community. The 425-bed nonprofit hospital is a level 2 trauma center and has capacity to care for up to 200 patients in its emergency department each day if necessary.
In the early days of the pandemic, leadership looked to the experiences of hospitals on the East Coast to create a surge plan that would ensure the hospital's full capacity could be utilized if needed. The plan was activated during the winter when the hospital experienced a large COVID-19 surge. As of July 12, the surge plan isn't activated, though Mr. Wright said the hospital is closely tracking the regional situation to see if cases pick up more two weeks after the Fourth of July. The plan was revised July 8.
Seven things to know:
1. "Community need dictated what our surge plan was," Mr. Wright explained. The multiphase plan is designed to expand and contract for all services, depending on what's occurring in the community and region.
2. The plan considers both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. Last winter, the hospital saw mostly COVID-19 patients. However, in the last month, there has been an influx of both COVID-19 patients and severely ill non-COVID-19 patients. "These are some of the sickest patients we've ever seen," Mr. Wright said, noting that it takes staff longer to treat the higher number of critically ill patients.
3. Though the details of the plan aren't publicly available, Mr. Wright said the model also considers staffing resources, personal protective equipment and number of beds, among other things. A group of all key players meet regularly to review current statistics and assess everything from visitation policy to PPE supply.
4. The plan centers around a team-based approach, which means staff may move around to assist other units. Mr. Wright said the primary nursing model, which has one nurse care for multiple patients, simply doesn't work during surges. "The scalability of pulling staff from other areas made us able to function, but it got really tight," Mr. Wright said, though he noted that the hospital never had to bring in travel nurses. The hospital never had to terminate any staff, and no clinical workers were furloughed, Mr. Wright's proudest moments of the pandemic.
5. As the current COVID-19 surge continues, the system will lean on telemedicine more and may consider rescheduling elective procedures, should the surge plan be implemented.
6. All staff members are aware of the surge plan, and leadership sends out weekly updates regarding the situation. Staff have said the surge plan makes them feel safe. Mr. Wright said he was honestly surprised how understanding physicians were regarding the plan. He cited the culture at the community hospital as a main reason behind the success of its surge plan, noting that staff understands the hospital has to do what is best for the community. "Everyone sees the bigger picture and greater good," Mr. Wright said. "Being not-for-profit and getting care here — it's the culture."
7. The surge plan is designed to keep staff and patients alike safe, Mr. Wright said, emphasizing the importance of making sure staff have everything they need.
To avoid surges, the bottom line is...
"The answer to this is to get a vaccine," Mr. Wright said. "It's not political. It's proved by science."
The hospital leader said a "great percentage — close to 100 percent" of COVID-19 patients at the hospital are unvaccinated.
"We can beat this," Mr. Wright said. "The answer is the vaccine."