COVID-related absenteeism adds to the headaches for some North Carolina hospitals
As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in North Carolina, hospitals are worried about another trend: the growing number of nurses and other staff who can’t come to work because they or someone they’ve encountered have tested positive.
Dr. Matt Ewend, chief clinical officer for the UNC Health system, this week called COVID-related absenteeism “one of our major concerns.”
Ewend said the number of workers who were out because of COVID had nearly tripled at the UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill from 33 in mid-July to 98 last week. At Rex hospital in Raleigh during that time, the number grew from 25 to 63.
The pattern is troubling as hospitals face another spike in COVID cases, Ewend said. UNC now expects the number of COVID-19 patients it treats will increase until early October, to numbers similar to the previous peak last winter.
“The first wave, we had a high number of staff but lacked supplies,” he told members of the health system board on Monday. “Today, we have adequate supplies, but the staffing is very thin. And when we lose staffing to either COVID infection or to necessary quarantine, it really impairs our ability to care for people who need our help.”
Many openings for nurses
As of Aug. 12, a third of the workers absent because of COVID at Rex and UNC Medical Center had tested positive for coronavirus, while the rest were in quarantine awaiting a test result or because of exposure to someone else. UNC doesn’t know what share of workers who tested positive had been vaccinated.
The absences are compounded by increased turnover among health care workers that began late this spring, particularly among nurses. The UNC Health Care system, which includes a dozen hospitals across the state, has openings for about 1,100 registered nurses, said Scott Doak, the chief human resources officer.
The combination of staff absences and vacancies has forced the UNC system to make some beds unavailable for patients, said spokesman Alan Wolf. He said some hospitals are planning to again reduce the number of non-emergency surgeries and other procedures to ensure beds are available when needed.
“This trend is concerning to us,” Wolf wrote in an email. “Our mission is to serve all North Carolinians. That has become more challenging because of the staffing shortages (including absenteeism) and displacement of non-COVID patients by acutely ill COVID patients.”
Coronavirus cases have spiked statewide
Fueled by the more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus, the number of COVID-19 patients at North Carolina hospitals has soared from fewer than 400 in early July to 2,930 on Wednesday, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. The number of staffed and available intensive care unit hospital beds across the state has dropped in that time from more than 575 to 290 on Tuesday.
Not all hospitals are seeing a spike in COVID-related absences. UNC Chatham in Siler City, for example, had just three on Aug. 12, up from two in mid-July.
Other hospital systems say they’ve seen COVID absences increase among their staff, but say it hasn’t become a big problem yet.
“WakeMed is experiencing a similar situation as other Triangle-area health systems,” spokeswoman Kristin Kelly wrote in an email. “Staff absences due to COVID (either a positive test or a required quarantine) have increased over the last several weeks. However, to put it in perspective, the total number is in the double digits — only a small percentage of staff.”
Duke Health released a statement saying that less than .5% of its employees are out due to COVID.
“Duke Health has several COVID-19 safety measures in place to protect the health of our patients, their loved ones and our staff,” the statement said. “With the climbing COVID-19 case counts in our area, community exposure creates a high risk for transmission. It’s why we continue to ask everyone to please get vaccinated, wear a mask when indoors, socially distance and if needed, quarantine and get tested.”
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 7:30 AM.
