HJAR Mar/Apr 2021

18 MAR / APR 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS STATE OF ARKANSAS’ HOSPITALS These two forces — competition for health- care workers and staff out due to exposure — combined to drive demand up to its highest levels in November and December, which com- pounded the overall stress on the healthcare system during the pandemic. INTENSIVE CARE UNIT CAPACITY As we moved into the fall, it became clear that maximizing staffed adult ICU bed capacity throughout the state would be essential. Here again, the ability of our facilities to care for pa- tients in the ICU depends on staffing. As early as March, hospitals had developed regional strategies to address the distribution of patients, and it was soon recognized that hospi- tals had the expertise to manage ICU bed flow within the regions. Hospitals manage nonurgent care every day to limit the ICU beds in use by implementing different levers such as reducing appointments and not scheduling procedures that require an overnight stay. ICU bed availability reached a level of 120 beds in July, and hospitals began preparations to increase the numbers. These plans worked very well, and hospital coordination operated at an all-time high. In October and November, facilities added more than 100 ICU beds. As the winter surge began, the Governor’s Winter COVID Task Force began preparing a statewide system for managing the distribution of patients instead of continuing the regional approach, with the availability of ICU beds remaining the driving force. Under a plan from the Arkansas Department of Health, the state developed a COVID communications distribution team, called COVID Comm, similar to the trauma com- munications system that moves trauma patients around the state. Along with the establishment of COVID Comm, to ensure that as many beds were available as possible, the Governor’s Winter COVID Task Force also requested that hospitals increase ICU bed capacity by 10%. Hospitals responded by increasing overall staffed ICU capacity 19% by Jan. 22, 2021, which took the state from 799 beds to 950 beds. Managing and increasing ICU bed capacity with the ability to transfer statewide through COVID Comm was essential in facing the win- ter surge. VACCINES The most hopeful news for our state’s front- line healthcare workers, who had made so many sacrifices and endured so much as they cared for patients in the past months, was the ap- proval of two COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines ar- rived in Arkansas Dec. 14. Over the following month, 116,772 doses were administered across the state to healthcare workers and other mem- bers of group 1A. Facilities coordinated the distribution to en- sure that healthcare workers were given the two doses, staggered within departments to limit days away from work because of minor side ef- fects. Hospitals also saw the need for an effort to educate healthcare workers on the safety of STAFF OUT DUE TO EXPOSURE 4/9/20 - 2/03/21