Tennessee faces hospital staffing issues as COVID cases soar, available ICU beds dwindle

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Tennessee hospitals are facing staffing issues as COVID-19 cases in the state surge, leaving the state with only 7% of ICU beds available and 10% of all hospital beds.

According to Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) data, 149 of the state's 2,051 ICU beds are available and 1,125 of the state's 11,470 floor beds are available.

The dwindling bed numbers can be concerning on their own, but the larger concern as previously expressed by TDH Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey is the staffing needed to tend to each bed. "We've got enough physical space and physical beds right now, it's the staffing that we need," Dr. Piercey stated during an August 2 media briefing. "If you can't staff a professional at that bedside, having a physical bed there doesn't really matter."

ALSO READ: ER doctor at Sumner Regional pleads for Tennesseans to get vaccinated: 'There are no beds'

These shortages appear to be having an impact as case rates continue to rise in the state. According to TDH data as of August 11, there were 5,669 new cases of COVID-19, a high not seen since January 16th of this year. A rise in cases leads to a rise in hospitalizations, the state reporting as of yesterday there are 2,078 total hospitalizations for COVID-19, 604 of them in the ICU and 340 currently on a ventilator. Another 113 adults hospitalized are pending official diagnosis of COVID-19, 14 of them in the ICU and 6 on ventilators.

50 children are among the hospitalized, 13 in the ICU and 4 on a ventilator. The spike in cases has prompted one hospital leader to issue a dire warning to the public. Dr. Geoff Lifferth, an emergency room doctor and chief nursing officer at Sumner Regional Medical Center on Thursday stated "In Middle Tennessee right now it is impossible to find an empty, staffed ICU, ER, or med/surg bed. As an ER doc and a healthcare administrator, this past week has been one of the most exhausting and disheartening of my career. Six weeks ago there were 200 Covid patients in hospitals in Tennessee. Today there are 2000. A 1000% increase. In 6 weeks."

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) also announced on Friday their adult and emergency departments were full. “Our Adult Hospital and Emergency Department are completely full. Due to constraints on all levels of bed capacity, we are limiting elective cases and declining transfer requests from many hospitals. The Middle Tennessee Transfer Coordinating Center is up and running to try to balance the load around the city. Those transfers are being placed in hospitals despite capacity and staffing challenges," the statement reads. "This is a significant stressor to our health care staff and providers. Patients we are treating for COVID are all ages, with some in their early to mid-20s being very sick. We continue to see that the majority, more than 90%, of those admitted for COVID are unvaccinated and those that are vaccinated are also are severely immunocompromised. We urge everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated ASAP and masks do help limit the transmission of COVID.”

RELATED: Tennessee nearly doubles COVID case rate, hospitalizations and deaths also rise

Tennesseans don't have to look far for an example of how things can devolve. In neighboring Mississippi, the department of health is revising their hospital bed availability reporting tool, stating "Due to the extreme shortage of intensive care beds in the state, allocation of hospital beds has been centralized under MSDH's COVID-19 System of Care plan. Data reporting on hospital beds is being revised to work with new data sources." The shortage in Mississippi has led to fears the state's hospital system could fail in the next 10 days. Just like Tennessee, Mississippi has seen a spike over the last 30 days. On July 12, there were 268 hospitalized patients in Mississippi, that number swelling to 1,490 as of August 11. In Tennessee, there were 281 hospitalized cases which has grown to 2,078 as of yesterday. That is a 639% increase in Tennessee, a higher increase than the 455% Mississippi has seen. While we are talking about two different states and two different hospital systems, both states are seeing similar trends in terms of case spikes.

According to forecasting data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Tennessee's total of weekly cases is expected to increase from 21,107 statewide to 34,544 in the next 4 weeks.

On August 6, Dr. Piercey noted the rise in both pediatric and adult hospital capacity are of concern but said the state has some levers it can pull at the federal to assist with staffing shortages.

MORE: Vanderbilt adult hospital & ER full, declining transfers from many hospitals

Regulatory authority is among steps the state has taken to help address staffing needs, Governor Bill Lee signing Executive Order 83 last week. The order extends previous orders which allows for trained National Guard personnel to assist in tending to the sick, testing, logistics, and other areas where help may be needed. The order also allows for out-of-state licensed professionals to assist, a move the governor's office also made during last year's peak. One lever they don't anticipate needing to pull is for alternate care sites which had previously been built in Memphis and Nashville but have since been deconstructed.

As Dr. Piercey had stated, it is about the staffing, not physical space. The Tennessee Department of Health tells FOX 17 News "there are no plans to open alternate care sites." According to the latest state profile report from the White House, 10% of Tennessee hospitals are dealing with staff shortages, an increase of 20% compared to the previous week while there has been a 65% increase in confirmed COVID-19 hospital admissions.

FOX 17 News originally asked TDH if there was a specific plan of action for a potential overflow situation at hospitals and we were referred to Dr. Piercey's statements the previous two weeks.

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