YRMC upping staffing to combat influx of coronavirus ICU patients

CBS 13's April Hettinger finds out how the hospital is preparing for the second wave

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - COVID-19 cases are surging in the Desert Southwest. Yuma County reported nearly 400 cases on Sunday alone. And now, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) is at over half full.

YRMC says 26 ICU beds are taken and 19 of those are COVID-related patients.

Although they have 42 beds, YRMC says they have the staffing and enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) should they need to use all 42 beds.

Deb Aders, Chief Nursing Officer at YRMC says they have seen the effects of the surge.

"So, we have seen and increase in the number of COVID patients at YRMC especially over the last five to seven days is where we're seeing the big influx," Aders explained. "Staffing is reviewed, just so you know, housewide, we review our staffing every four hours."

Surge staffing has already been implemented to combat the influx of covid patients and winter visitors.

Nurses have also switched to P-100 masks which are more secure than N-95 masks.

They plan to up their staffing in the coming weeks.

"We have a total of 68 nurses out in our ambulatory areas, our different departments, that we will start to rotate in based upon skill levels and mixes," Aders said. "We also have additional staffing coming in. We had nurses coming in this week. I have 21 nurses coming in next week."

YRMC says they have amplified cross-training so nurses with a higher skill set can transfer between the ICU and the emergency department depending on where help is needed most.

You can see April Hettinger's full report Monday at 9pm PST/10pm MST on 13 on Your Side.