This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA.
The Highland emergency department, although usually overcrowded, has recently been dangerously over capacity. With the hospital fully impacted with patients, there is nowhere to admit people waiting in the ER. This leads to patients who have orders to be admitted waiting for days on a gurney, instead of receiving appropriate inpatient hospital care. This is known as “boarding,” and is shown to directly increase patient mortality, adverse events, staff burnout, violent episodes in the ER, preventable medical errors, and even raise overall healthcare costs!
Critically ill patients are waiting days to move up to the ICU. A gurney in a busy ER is no place for an unstable patient requiring specialized monitoring and treatment. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to secure a gurney in a hallway! The ER has been so full that some patients who arrive by ambulance are stuck waiting in an idling ambulance, not able to enter the doors of the hospital.
This is not the time to cut services and endanger our patients! We need safe staffing throughout AHS to keep our ER ready for emergencies, not filled with boarders who should be receiving hospital care.
Click here to read the article printed in the 01-21-26 Healthcare Newsletter
