Hospitals generally operate with ICUs almost full, and had planned to increase the number of critically ill patients they could treat. But the next morning, the governor issued an executive order that again restricted elective surgeries in Harris County. The order, however, allows hospitals to continue to perform surgeries and procedures that will not reduce their ability to care for patients with coronavirus; Some hospital executives and doctors, including those at Methodist, said they could continue to provide those services, which they considered particularly necessary after being detained during the initial shutdown. Texas Medical Center hospitals are collectively treating about 1,500 coronavirus patients, according to figures released Saturday.
During the previous wave in mid-April, the Methodist system had a maximum of just over 200 coronavirus patients. On Sunday, he had nearly 400 patients hospitalized with the virus, and about 150 more were being screened for it. Some models predict a spike in two to three weeks.
Roberta L. Schwartz, executive vice president and chief innovation officer for Methodist, who serves as the coronavirus incident commander, walked from unit to unit on Saturday “looking for beds,” as she described it. She spoke with nurses and doctors, solving problems that could delay sending patients home or transfer them to lower levels of care when they were ready. She informed the nurses in an intermediate care unit that she would soon be transferred to an ICU for patients with coronavirus.
She visited a huge laboratory with more than $ 3 million in new instruments, which she referred to as the “Taj Mahal,” a former academic laboratory that was reused to process virus tests, and took a first look at two recently purchased machines that 1,000 tests a day can run. In some parts of the country, labs, including Methodist labs, have experienced delays in recent testing as demand and new cases increase.
The hospital is hiring itinerant nurses to reinforce its staff and offering bonuses as incentives for some employees to take additional shifts. In recent days, hospital beds and mobile computers have been rolled up into an empty 34-bed unit that had been closed and will now be used for patients with coronavirus. “That’s why I don’t have to overtake trailers and mobile hospitals,” said Dr. Schwartz. The changes were also part of the hospital’s efforts to maintain the ability to safely treat its many virus-free patients.
