Coronavirus rates are rising not just in rural areas across the nation, but in many urban areas too, filling up hospitals. That has meant trouble for critical rural patients, who would usually be transferred to larger, more well-equipped urban hospitals.
In Colorado, where the number of covid-19 patients needing hospitalization is at an all-time high, the Colorado Hospital Association has instituted a new system meant to alleviate overcrowding and make sure as many patients can be transferred as possible, Karen Morfitt reports for CBSN Denver. The system could be a model for other states.
The CHA's statewide Combined Hospital Transfer Center "will be a centralized resource where hospitals can coordinate patient care, should one start nearing capacity or reach capacity," Morfitt reports. "It will help rural areas in need of more critical care space and larger centers looking to release patients."
Less-critical urban patients can be moved to less-specialized rural hospitals so critical rural patients can be moved to the urban hospitals if necessary, explained CHA spokesperson Cara Welch. "We are all in this business for the same reason: We want to take care of patients and we have to work together to be able to do it," Welch told Morfitt. "When you get to this level of volume no one should be working on an island."
from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/3ldxzgt Colorado rural and urban hospitals collaborate to combat pandemic overcrowding - Entrepreneur Generations
0 Response to "Colorado rural and urban hospitals collaborate to combat pandemic overcrowding - Entrepreneur Generations"
Post a Comment