Samaritan staffing subject of discussion

MOSES LAKE — Staffing, services and keeping patients in town was the subject of a discussion at the Samaritan Hospital commission’s last meeting.

Transferring patients to other facilities and why they’re being transferred has been an ongoing topic of discussion at commission meetings. Hospital staff has been tracking the number of transfers and delivered its report recently.

“We’ve been tracking our transfers for about a year,” said Samaritan medical director Andrea Carter. The results show the hospital has been transferring about 80 patients per month.

One reason patients are transferred is a lack of staff to provide the proper level of care. That too has been a subject of considerable discussion among the commissioners. About 12 percent of patient transfers were due to staffing issues.

“The other two big reasons for transfer are higher level of care needed and then need for clinical services not available (at Samaritan),” Carter said. Most patients who needed the higher levels of care were cardiac and neurology patients, she said, typically patients who needed services not available at Samaritan.

In the cases where services were not available, most patients suffered from dialysis and gastronomic issues, such as cases where treatment might require equipment Samaritan doesn’t have.

Hospital officials are reviewing the current staffing formulas, Carter said, and may have proposals in August to adjust them.

Board member Joe Akers asked if hospital officials were analyzing the data to decide what additional services should be offered at Samaritan. Chief executive officer Teresa Sullivan said there is ongoing analysis, but “will take us a little more digging to find out, could we offer the services in the appropriate fashion.”

In the case of staffing issues, Sullivan said she has told administrators she is concerned by the idea that patients are transferred when they could be treated at Samaritan with proper staffing. Patient safety comes first, Sullivan said, but “as leaders and managers we’re responsible to make sure the hospital is staffed appropriately.”

Akers said that since the hospital is tracking the data, it should be possible to establish improvement targets. Sullivan said hospital officials are thinking of making staffing one of the measures reviewed each month in 2018.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.