PHOENIX (AP) - The largest health system in Arizona has announced it will add about 1,000 out-of-state nurses and respiratory therapists to its workforce to help with the coronavirus pandemic.
Banner Health will add 980 workers, about twice the amount added during a busy flu season, because more care is needed for patients with COVID-19, said Naomi Cramer, chief human resources officer.
The nurses and respiratory therapists are traveling health care workers who take assignments across the country for four weeks, with extensions available for up to 12 weeks, Cramer said. Normally travel assignments are around 13 weeks.
The company has also hired 49 per diem physicians and expects to hire 20 more to help with demand resulting from the pandemic, the Arizona Republic reported.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for some - especially older adults and people with existing health problems - it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
Chief Nursing Officer Phyllis Doulaveris said the nurse-to-patient ratio in the ICU ranges from one-to-one to one-to-two, but COVID-19 patients are almost always at a one-to-one ratio.
The traveling nurses have a two-day orientation before they start doing shift work, which includes clinical simulation and nurse shadowing, Doulaveris said.
“They are stepping in where they are needed. By and large, the vast majority are caring for COVID patients,” she said. “They are seasoned and experienced with COVID, so we are using most of them in the COVID units.”
Banner Health has also given about 700 employees more job responsibility,, and it has asked the Arizona Department of Health Services to send more nurses, officials said.
The Arizona Department of Health announced Wednesday that it has hired about 600 nurses to work in state hospitals cost-free for up to six weeks, but hospitals must apply to that program.
Data shows 89% of the ICU beds were in use as of Wednesday, and 87% of inpatient beds were occupied, the Republic reported. More than 3,400 beds were in use across the state by patients with suspected and confirmed COVID-19. About 1,500 of those patients are in Banner Health hospitals.
The department on Friday reported 91 additional deaths from COVID-19, increasing the state’s total to 2,583. The additional 3,910 confirmed cases reported Friday increases that state’s total to 138,523.
However, the number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
In other developments:
- The state Department of Economic Security announced Friday that a 13-day extended benefits period is available to people who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits. The department will notify people who may be eligible for the extended benefits.
-A coalition of disability rights groups filed a complaint with the federal government over Arizona’s Crisis Standards of Care Plan, which it says discriminates against people with disabilities, older people and people of color. The groups filed the complaint with the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, saying the factors considered to determine the use of medical resources violate civil rights laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act, among other protections.
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