Arizona is partnering with Irving, Texas-based group purchasing organization Vizient to hire nearly 600 out-of-state critical care and medical-surgical nurses to support expanded capacity at Arizona hospitals, the Arizona Department of Health Services announced July 15.
The department said hospitals in need of critical staffing support may receive it from the state at no cost for up to six weeks.
The staffing help comes as Arizona reported that COVID-19 cases climbed to 131,354 on July 15. As of July 14, state data showed 90 percent of ICU beds in use, including COVID-19 patients.
More than 30 Arizona hospitals have already applied to the state for staffing help, department spokesperson Holly Poynter said July 14, according to the Arizona Republic.
The department said staffing help from the state — which is in addition to nearly 100 National Disaster Medical System personnel sent to Arizona over the last month on a two-week deployment — will be prioritized for hospitals based on patients' referrals through the state's 24/7 COVID-19 surge phone line, or if the hospitals can manage more ICU or medical-surgical patients with increased staffing.
More information is available here.
More articles on workforce:
Southwest Florida hospitals boost staffing amid COVID-19 surge
Scripps Health staffing up ICU for COVID-19 surge
Montana facility gets staff help from Billings Clinic, state amid COVID-19 outbreak