How Does Ambulance Diversion Work?

In many areas of the United States, hospitals overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients are enacting ambulance diversion. Learn what this means in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/hospital-diversion-news.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Lauren Bogobam here. The COVID nineteen pandemic has claimed more
than seven twenty thousand lives in the United States to date.
In terms of sheer numbers, it's become the deadliest event
in US history, surpassing the influenza epidemic and multiple wars.

(00:26):
As shocking as this number is, it doesn't capture the
full scope of COVID related casualties. Since the summer surge
began in early August, due mostly to the delta variant,
a COVID nineteen has overwhelmed hospitals and I See us
across the country. The federal government's latest data show Georgia

(00:46):
and Alabama are still at nearly a hundred percent of
their intensive care unit capacity, while Texas hovers it more
than I See You capacity. Idaho is at This type
of surge has forced many facility used to go on diversion,
leaving few resources for non COVID emergencies. For the article,

(01:07):
this episode is based on How Stuff Work. Spoke with
Dr John Delzel, vice president of Northeast Georgia Health System.
He described the situation as pretty dire saying, you just
get the point where you can't physically take care of
more people. So what happens when hospitals are so full?
Some may go on what's called diversion. Diversion describes a

(01:31):
situation when ambulance drivers are asked to avoid taking patients
to a specific hospital. Under normal circumstances, paramedics are supposed
to drive straight to the nearest hospital or emergency facility,
but when a diversion notices in place, they may have
to break that rule. Hospitals go on diversion when they
have more patients than beds. Doctors working under such circumstances

(01:54):
will usually try to outsource their patient's care to another
hospital if possible, in hopes of getting them treated sooner.
During a news conference in August, doctor Robert Jansen, chief
medical officer for Grady Health System in Atlanta, explained, a
diversion doesn't mean you can't come. It's our way of
communicating to the ambulances that were full, but we never

(02:16):
turn anyone down. Hospital diversion is rare, but not unprecedented.
It remains controversial in many states, and it's never an
option that medical facilities invoke. Lightly before COVID nineteen. Diversions
mainly occurred because of mechanical issues like power outages or
flooding at hospitals. While overcrowding from a single disease has

(02:39):
been historically very uncommon, it has happened. For example, hospitals
in New York City diverted ambulances during the height of
the AIDS epidemic, but diversions on the scale of the
current COVID nineteen wave are practically unheard of. Overcrowded hospitals
are forced to put patients wherever they can, often on

(03:00):
always stretchers or in overflow tents, but in a pact
I see you, patients may have to wait hours for
a staffed bed to open up. In severe cases, a
few hours can be the difference between life and death.
Since July, COVID cases and hospitalizations in the US have skyrocketed.

(03:20):
The delta variant is partly to blame, along with waning
vaccination rates and relaxed mask and indoor gathering policies. More
than of patients hospitalized with COVID nineteen are unvaccinated, and
the small handful of fully vaccinated COVID nineteen hospitalizations are
nearly all patients with multiple comorbidities. During the latest wave,

(03:42):
hospitals in states with low vaccination rates have been pushed
to the brink. In a press briefing, Dr James Schmia,
chief operating officer at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, said,
right now of our I See You beds house patients
who are on a ventilator or breathing machine. So when
we did have this amount of COVID it was thirty
six percent. In Georgia, only about thirteen percent if I

(04:07):
See You beds statewide remain unoccupied. As of September twenty
TEWOD only about a hundred and thirty individual I See
You beds were available in Kentucky. In August, Alabama ran
out of I SeeU beds entirely. How stuff works. Also
spoke with Dr Mark Mardsen, the chief medical officer for
Ascension St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. He said, we

(04:30):
just don't really have the resources and the staff to
be able to handle these unlimited numbers of patients. Every
hospital in the city essentially has been on almost continuous
diversion for the last several weeks. When every hospital is
on diversion, it means that effectively, none of them are. Unfortunately,
folks still need urgent care outside of COVID nineteen. On

(04:53):
top of the virus, doctors must contend with the usual
number of strokes, heart attacks, car accidents, and other agencies.
With too few beds to go around, these patients might
not receive the care they need in time. In late July,
a twelve year old boy nearly died when his appendix
burst while waiting for more than six hours in a
Florida emergency room, and in August, US Army veteran Daniel

(05:17):
Wilkinson did die of gallstone pancreasis, a treatable issue, while
his Texas doctors scrambled to find him a bed. It's
been eighteen months since the coronavirus pandemic hit the US. Doctors, nurses,
and hospital staff around the country have been working tirelessly,
putting their own lives on the line in order to
save others. Now many are physically and emotionally exhausted. Martsen said,

(05:43):
everybody's tired. Everybody's sad because so many people are dying.
So much of this is preventable, which is frustrating healthcare providers.
Today's episode is based on the article is your hospital
divert ambulances because of COVID nineteen on house to works
dot com, written by Joanna Thompson. Brain Stuff is production

(06:06):
of iHeart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com,
and it is produced by Tyler Clang. For more podcasts
my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.