SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 4, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Primary Children’s Hospital will delay non-urgent procedures and surgeries due to high volumes of patients, it was announced Thursday.
Caregivers have been caring for extremely high numbers of patients for many months, said a news release from Intermountain Healthcare. This includes COVID and non-COVID patients, an influx of patients with respiratory illnesses, such as RSV, and trauma-related injuries.
“Our patient volumes now exceed typical winter surge levels, which is unprecedented,” said Dustin Lipson, administrator of Primary Children’s Hospital. “Our typical in-patient volume this time of year is about 180 patients. In peak respiratory season, we average 230 patients. Yesterday, we cared for 249 hospitalized patients.”
To ensure that staffing and resources are best able to meet patient needs, and to maintain the safety and well-being of patients and caregivers, Primary Children’s Hospital is delaying all non-emergency inpatient and outpatient surgeries and procedures through Nov. 28.
“We are contacting patient families to reschedule non-urgent surgeries and procedures,” added Lipson. “To be clear, patients who urgently need surgeries and procedures will receive them. We are deploying caregivers in surgical and procedural areas to care for patients in other areas of the hospital.”
Everyone in the community is urged to do all they can to stay safe and well by masking up in public, social distancing while indoors, observing good hand hygiene, and getting vaccines for flu and COVID-19, officials said.
