16 overwhelmed hospitals placed on 'drive-by' status

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a.. 16 area hospitals placed on 'drive-by' status

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Dec. 7, 2001, 12:14AM

16 overwhelmed hospitals placed on 'drive-by' status

By KRISTEN MACK

Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle

More than half of Houston-area hospitals turned away patients

Thursday because they were overloaded with emergency and intensive care

patients.

Sixteen of 29 hospitals declared " drive-by " or diversion status at

the same time -- requesting that paramedic and rescue units not bring in more

patients.

" This year we have noticed a significant increase in hospitals

asking for diversion status, " said Persse, physician director of emergency

medical services for the city of Houston.

Patients are calling ambulances for everything from chest pains to

chauffeured service to have stitches removed. The demand only exacerbates the

problem.

" Despite trying to avert ambulances, the system is getting

overwhelmed, " Persse said. " It's changed from being an evening phenomenon to an

all-day phenomenon. "

Hospitals can stay on diversion status as long as they deem it

necessary, though most last no longer than eight hours.

Since Saturday, Memorial Hermann Hospital has been on diversion

status for 40 hours, said spokesperson Beth Sartori.

Memorial Hermann has 95 adult and 14 child ICU beds. As one of the

area's biggest hospitals, it has the been the most affected, Sartori said.

Between its intensive care and emergency room units, Ben Taub

Hospital had to go on " diversion status " 25 times during October, a hospital

spokesman said.

The hospital gets up to 350 emergency room visits a day, including

patients dropped off by ambulance, said ez. With 25 to 30 nurses

staffing the emergency room at a time, service had to be scaled down.

Emergency room visits nationwide continue to rise at a rate of about

one million visits per year, the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine said.

It attributes the national shortage of hospital beds to nursing

shortages, hospital closures, an ever-increasing geriatric population and the

uninsured.

Hospitals tend to see a rise in service during the flu season, but

it's not just a seasonal thing this year, Persee said. Area hospitals have

increasingly been requesting drive-by status since early in the year.

Starting last summer, the Houston Fire Department, which operates

the city's ambulances, tried to reduce the patient logjam by dropping off no

more than three patients an hour.

Since April, the city has added nine ambulances, bringing the number

in service at any given time to 71.

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