Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center's adult hospital is rescheduling surgeries that can be delayed amid a rise in COVID-19 patients, according to WPLN News.
As of Aug. 5, VUMC was treating 83 COVID-19 patients, largely because of the delta variant, compared to 10 a few weeks ago, creating staffing challenges, according to a note sent to employees. That number is across VUMC's seven-hospital system.
"Everybody that comes for surgery needs their surgery, and so having to postpone them is a very significant change. And it's something that could potentially get a lot worse as we move into this next phase of the pandemic," Seth Karp, MD, VUMC chief of surgery, told WPLN News.
C. Wright Pinson, MD, deputy CEO and chief health system officer at VUMC, said the increase in COVID-19 patients comes amid increased admissions associated with trauma season.
"The increase in traumas, along with customary high traffic in our adult emergency department, staffing challenges in clinical areas and an increased demand for surgical services, are impacting our operations. Across the country, the ability to recruit hospital workers is harder than ever, and Nashville is no exception," Dr. Pinson wrote in the note to staff.
He said VUMC's Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital is also seeing record admissions through a seasonal shift in pediatric viral illnesses, and the health system is communicating with area emergency medical services providers about adult emergency department volumes.
Read the full report here. Read the full note here.