I’m a Hospitalist that works in a NH hospital. Our ED wait time is ridiculous.

There are no beds. None.

Our hospital is operating at 105% capacity. We have patients in the hallways upstairs. Admitted patients, on a medical floor, in a hallway. We’ve had patients in the library before.

Your wait time in the ED isn’t because the staff is inept. It’s because half of the ED is admitted patients waiting to get upstairs (usually overnight). Recently there was a 19:1 patient to nurse ratio in our ED because of shortages and call outs. Every single unit in our hospital is down LNAs and RNs compared to what the staffing matrix should be.

We are doing our best. Please bear with us.