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– HAVE RESPIRATIONS: Berit Langset, who is a shop steward for the Norwegian Nurses Association, describes the employees’ efforts as formidable. Photo: Private
– We have expressed our concern about capacity for many years, says Berit Langset, who is a shop steward for Ahus nurses.
After tripling crown patients in the past two weeks, Akershus University Hospital (Ahus) had to send patients to Oslo University Hospital due to increased intensive care capacity.
– There have been major capacity challenges at Ahus for many years, and the employer must be aware of our concerns related to this issue. Concerns have been raised on various levels and forms over the years. The last formal report of concern was submitted in 2018, says Ahus shop steward for the Norwegian Nurses Association Berit Langset.
She herself has been associated with the intensive care unit as an intensive care nurse.
– It is a chronic crisis, and then the pandemic has joined it. There are many who are tired now, he says.
SAID OF: – Employees who had time off to work overtime were called in and several intensive care patients on a respirator were transferred to other hospitals, shop steward Ståle Clementsen told VG about the situation in Ahus the end last week. Photo: Mattis Sandblad
Ståle Clementsen, who is a shop steward for Ahus’s chief doctors’ association, has told VG that the hospital has two intensive care beds per person. 100,000 inhabitants, well below the national average.
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Criticize Ahus Ability: – A Scandal
– It is important for me to emphasize that it is formidable what employees are able to offer despite the situation they are in and have been in for a long time, says Berit Langset.
– They extend beyond what an employer can expect of its employees. There is nothing to complain about the quality of treatment patients receive, it is of the highest quality, after all. We just don’t have room for more.
Focus on budgets
She agrees with employees who describe a strong focus on budget and efficiency.
AHUS: Norway’s largest emergency hospital is located in Lørenskog and is responsible for the inhabitants of Follo, Romerike and the Kongsvinger region, as well as the eastern districts of Oslo, Grorud, Stovner and Alna, where the pressure of infection is high. Photo: Krister Sørbø
– Usually a lot of time is spent on analysis to optimize operations, which may be necessary and relevant, but there are many other factors that must also be taken into account. Retaining and recruiting based on ability and readiness is one example, he says.
In 2013, Ahus tried to introduce compulsory work every other weekend and, in that conflict, around 30 nurses left the intensive care unit alone.
– Analyzes that are mathematically good on paper do not work when you put in other significant variables, says Langset.
– Something has to happen
She says the nurses help with moving shifts, overtime, and overtime and that it gets very unpredictable.
– The influx of patients needing intensive care has been large and the staff have been given short breaks to breathe. They have not been allowed to recover after the previous round, he says.
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The intensive capacity in Ahus: – A situation of pressure
Berit Langset thinks he’s starting to rush to do something about the situation in Ahus.
– I have great faith that the population is willing to use the funds of the society to care for and develop a safe health system in Norway. But then those who have power and authority must take that responsibility, really do it, he says.
DISCONTINUED: Ernst Kristian Rødland worked as a doctor at Ahus. He now works at the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH). Photo: Frode Hansen
– The search for efficiency
– When I was working at Ahus, all the wards were full all the time, including the intensive care unit. It is very worrying that a hospital that is going to treat so many patients does not have a greater intensive capacity, says Chief Physician Ernst Kristian Rødland, who for long periods worked as a physician at Akershus University Hospital from 2011 to 2017. He now works at FHI .
– One of the reasons why I chose not to participate in clinical work was precisely the constant search for efficiency. It is not satisfactory to measure how quickly patients go through the system rather than the quality of work. It would no longer be a part of him, says Rødland.
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Ahus’s Chief Medical Officer: – Capacity has already skyrocketed this weekend.
– Ahus is a hospital that is run very efficiently, but considering the large population it will serve, it probably has very little capacity. The hospital needs more intensive care units or a smaller catchment area, he believes.
He points out that the crown situation has clarified the operational challenges of the various hospitals.
– The main goal is for our hospitals to be able to provide satisfactory treatment to both corona patients and other patients, and now that we’ve been at this for a whole year, there is reason to question why the capacity at Ahus is exactly the same . . It is a hospital that must bear a large part of the burden, says Ernst Kristian Rødland.
DISAGREE: CEO of Ahus Øystein Mæland. Photo: Synne Eggum Myrvang
I do not agree with the description
The CEO of Ahus Øystein Mæland disagrees with the description that there is a chronic crisis in the hospital.
– Although the intensive care capacity at Ahus has been strengthened since 2018, there is still a need for an increase, in part because the population in the hospital area is growing, says Mæland.
– I do not agree with the description that it is a chronic crisis, but it is an objective to establish more room for fluctuations in need. A critical prerequisite for increased capacity is access to more intensive care nurses, and therefore the hospital prioritizes funding for special education for many more nurses, says the hospital director.
