CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland Clinic Temporary Emergency Hospital was never used to treat patients with COVID-19, and is being dismantled to return to the educational space.
Other Cleveland health systems also did not have to expand capacity during the pandemic, because the expected increase in COVID-19 cases never came. But hospitals are currently experiencing an increase in coronavirus cases and say they are ready to expand capacity if necessary.
The use of intensive care unit beds in the county decreased slightly this week to 80%, compared to 82% last week. Regular use of adult medical beds increased to 82%, from 80% last week. Fan use increased by six percentage points to 38%.
Take a look at the capacity of each hospital system:
The Clinic’s 327-bed emergency hospital, within the Samson Pavilion of the Case Western Reserve University Health Education Campus and Clinic, was designated for patients with COVID-19 who did not require high levels of care or ventilators. Completed in mid-April, it was created based on predictive models of anticipated COVID-19 cases, the hospital said. But the Clinic received fewer patients with COVID-19 than anticipated.
The Health Education Campus building will be ready for students in the fall, when classes at CWRU are resumed remotely and in person. If a wave of COVID-19 patients occurs, they will be treated at existing facilities in the hospital system, the Clinic said.
“We are grateful that due to aggressive public health measures, our health system did not exceed capacity and therefore we did not have to admit patients to the Health Education Campus,” a spokeswoman said in an email.
The Clinic spent about $ 100 million for all of its COVID-19 readiness plans through April, the health system said.
The Clinic is now seeing increasing numbers of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients in its intensive care units, the hospital said in an email. System-wide bed capacity, including intensive care units, is adequate, and plans to expand bed capacity are being reviewed, if necessary.
Young patients ages 20 to 34 account for the largest increases in both hospitalized patients and the emergency department COVID-19, the hospital said.
In the clinic, hospitalized patients with COVID-19 are placed in various locations.
Three weeks ago, MetroHealth System disposed of its COVID-19 intensive care unit for lack of patients, said Dr. Edward Warren, director of pulmonary medicine, critical care and sleep medicine.
At the start of the pandemic, MetroHealth converted one of its 14-bed critical care units to one dedicated to intensive care patients COVID-19, Warren said in an email. If the volume exceeded 14 patients, the plan was to convert the remaining ICU beds to ICU-COVID and transfer non-COVID ICU patients to an intensive care unit on the third floor. This plan was never necessary, Warren said.
Critically ill patients with COVID-19 are currently being treated in an intensive care unit on the fourth floor, but there is no dedicated unit for these patients, Warren said. Patients are isolated and appropriate personal protective equipment and infection control measures are used for all patients.
If an increase occurs, MetroHealth will restore its COVID-19 intensive care unit and implement its previous increase plan, Warren said.
University hospitals have not used their augmentation capacity, said Dr. William Brien, chief medical and quality officer, in an email. UH can increase its capacity by as much as 300% if necessary, Brien said.
UH places patients who tested positive for COVID-19, as well as those awaiting test results, in intensive care and other units of the hospital system. Hospitalization depends on a variety of factors, including the severity of your symptoms and risk factors, Brien said.
If a person suspected of having the disease tests negative, that person is transferred to a different unit.
“We always put the patient in the place that focuses on their medical needs,” said Brien of UH. “There are times when we will place a COVID-19 positive patient in a unit that has no other COVID-19 patients, but we follow the guidelines for care (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and UH to protect staff and other patients appropriately. “
Summa Health in Akron has seen a slight increase in the number of hospitalizations for COVID-19, and is prepared in the event of a sudden increase, a spokeswoman said.
