3 ms·
How many beds are usually available? If there is, for example, only typically 40% of ICU beds available then being at 36% isn't that bad.
by _-david-_ 6y ago
How many beds are usually available? If there is, for example, only typically 40% of ICU beds available then being at 36% isn't that bad.
- Diederich 6y agoI have wondered that myself, and it's a valid consideration. Anecdotally, I've seen quite a few people who work in and around ERs and ICUs reporting a sharp increase in 'business', which follows (but trails) Covid19 positive test data. We obviously don't know with any degree of precision how bad things are at the macro scale, but I think it's undeniable that the current trajectory is pretty scary.
- rhino369 6y agoI've looked into these states and its really hard to get a good idea how close we are. There are easy solutions to quickly expanding ICU beds: 1) moving patients who don't need to be in ICU back to the regular wards. Hospitals tend to have a "use it or lose it" view of ICU beds. 2) you can turn regulars ward beds into ICU beds fairly quickly. The limiting factor is essentially the doctors/nurses/staff. They are able to squeeze more space by forcing doctors/nurses/staff to work longer hours. But you can't shift radiology doctors/nurses to ICU since they aren't qualified. We'll know things are bad when there is a call for doctors from less hard areas to fly to the infected areas. Long story short, its hard to know as layperson what % is bad, so we should just listen to the experts.