MetroWest Medical Center Consolidates ICU/CCU and CVU Departments Due to Staffing Issues

Framingham – MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham has consolidated its ICU/CCU and CVU units due to staffing issues.

This staffing issue arises in addition to the staffing of maternity wards.

for Over the past three weekends, ambulances have been diverted from the Tenet-owned hospital in Framingham for labor and delivery patients due to problems with the nursing staff.

MetroWest Medical Center has a 12-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

MetroWest Medical Center had its own cardiology unit (CVU). This unit was a step-down unit for those who could leave the ICU/CCU.

Hospital staff told SOURCE in December that the CVU had been physically moved to the ICU. This was because both units on two different floors were not staffed with sufficient numbers of nurses.

MetroWest Medical Center is down to about two to three ICU/CVU nurses per shift in January, said one staff member who requested anonymity.

SOURCE Media has emailed the hospital’s PR spokesperson multiple times over the past few weeks, but has received no response.

Its staffing levels are below MetroWest Medical Center’s submitted safety plan for the fiscal year and may be below state-mandated staffing levels.

“This is a serious matter for patient safety,” said another staff member who requested anonymity.

This means, for example, if there are 6 ICU patients (2 patients per nurse in the ICU ratio method) and a cardiac arrest occurs on the floor, there is no nurse to take the patient/ICU nurse must respond to cardiac arrest. , therefore, the hospital exceeds the state-mandated ratio.

Below are plans for both the consolidated ICU/CCU and the individual CVUs at that time as submitted by MetroWest Medical Center for fiscal year 2023. The plan is that both units will be staffed with 4 Registered Nurses (RNs) per day shift, 4 on the night shift and 4 on the night shift.

Last week, MetroWest Medical Center announced the resignation of its registered nurse CVU.

The advertisement states, “This role provides direct clinical patient care. This role is responsible for overseeing the staff to whom appropriate care is delegated This role supports the (Chief Nursing Officer) CNO to ensure high quality, safe and appropriate nursing care , clinical staff competence, and appropriate resource management related to patient care.”

Less than 24 hours later, MetroWest Medical Center began advertising a “CVU Retirement 32 Hour Rotation” for registered nurses.

MetroWest Medical Center indicated an average of 6.9 patients per day in combined ICU/CCU units and 9.6 patients per day in CVU units when submitting staffing plans.

In total, we have 16.5 patients per day and no more than 4 nurses on duty per shift.

State Laws (Chapter 155 of the 2014 Act, Legislation on Patient Restrictions in Intensive Care Units of All Hospitals) establishes patient quota limits for registered nurses in acute care hospitals licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and intensive care units (ICUs) of hospitals operated by the Commonwealth. Part of the law states, “In all intensive care units, the patient allocation of registered nurses should be 1:1 or 1:2, depending on the patient’s stability as assessed by the optometric tool and the ward staff nurse.” Include the nurse manager or the nurse manager’s designee if a disagreement needs to be resolved.”