Currently, one of the main challenges for rural hospitals is the lack of intensive care unit (ICU) capacity. As Davoodi et al. (2020) state, this factor makes rural communities especially vulnerable to COVID-19 pandemics. Sepkowitz (2020) also states that American rural healthcare systems lack surge capacities in general, and the pandemic times have exposed this. Rural hospitals used to rely on urban ones closest to them to use their capacity, but today, even the latter experience hard times. Thus, the lack of ICUs in rural hospitals revealed itself in severe numbers: “The Society of Critical Care Medicine reported on resource availability stating that of the 2,704 U.S. hospitals with ICU services, only 9% (244) are in rural areas (defined as a population < 10,000)” (Davoodi et al., 2020, p. 5). At the same time, urban hospitals have been trying to adapt and develop strategies for expanding ICU capacity.
Currently, almost any hospital’s tactics come down to increasing the number of beds, which heavily relies on statistics and probabilistic measures. In planning how many beds a hospital will need, organizations rely on epidemiological data and infection cases prediction. For example, in March, New York City required 40 000 beds, and in May, there was no need for them anymore since the peak case count was passed (Goldman, 2020). Rural hospitals have also been trying to keep pace with pandemics. For example, New Ulm Medical Center has built new delivery systems to enhance its capacity of taking patients four times (Davoodi et al., 2020). Another strategy involves reopening previously closed rural hospitals with the help of local businesses to provide medical supplies. Although such hospitals are already equipped with adequate fixtures and have satisfactory infrastructure, the problem still lies in the lack of medical personnel.
References
Davoodi, N. M., Healy, M., & Goldberg, E. M. (2020). Rural America’s hospitals are not prepared to protect older adults from a surge in covid-19 cases. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, 6, 1–8.
Goldman, H. (2020). NYC’s progress against virus misses state’s goals and its own. Web.
Sepkowitz, K. (2020). Amid Covid-19 pandemic, specialist sounds alarm about hospital capacity in rural America – CNN Video. CNN.