ER vs ICU: What Can You Expect During COVID-19?

• With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to ravage emergency rooms (ER) and intensive care units (ICUs) throughout the U.S., it is safe to assume that many major metropolitan hospitals are experiencing a free-for-all situation. 
• Whether you are interested in what’s going on behind the scenes or looking for a new role to fill, there are several differences between the ER vs ICU during COVID-19 that you should know!
• Although we do not have all the answers, we hope this brings you valuable information and helps you to navigate through this healthcare crisis.

ER vs ICU: What is Going On?

Whether you follow the news or not, I am sure you have seen healthcare professionals making the headlines since the recent COVID surge.  

From “ER Doctor Overwhelmed by COVID Patients Fears ‘We Are Only on the Front Edge of a Wave,'” to “The COVID-19 surge is overwhelming emergency rooms across Virginia,” it is evident that we are far from a solution to this seemingly never-ending epidemic.  

ERs are flooding with both COVID and non-COVID patients, but the issue is that there are not enough providers or beds to care for everyone.  

ER vs ICU Nurses: What Are Their Roles? Have They Changed?

ER nurses are one of the first points of contact upon a patient entering a facility.  

In a normal circumstance, triaging and admission would be an almost seamless process; however, this is no longer the case. 

ER physician Dr. Gillian Salton, says “I have to discharge patients who would normally need to be admitted, but I have no place to put them, and I’m forced to tell them to come back if they get sicker.” 

I am sure you have seen the news circulating of the patient who presented to the ER with a cardiac emergency, was transferred/referred, and turned away from 48 hospital institutions because there was no room for him, where he later died.  

This is what our world and healthcare system are coming to; it is crumbling.  

The roles of both ER and ICU nurses have changed, in the way their day-to-day functions and in the care that is provided to patients.  

The patients are sicker, the staffing is shorter, and the emotional demand is higher.  

Of course, the training and certifications vary among ER vs ICU nurses, but in times of chaos and low staffing, the situation is ‘all hands-on deck.’ 

ICU nurses do not have the time to give 100% care to 100% of the patients right now. There is without a doubt a divide in quality of care vs quantity of patients.  

Many institutions are at full capacity, with all their ventilators in use, and ICU nurses are bearing the brunt of it as a result.

Shortages

As the nursing shortage continues to devour healthcare systems left and right, it is evident that hospitals are struggling in many ways. 

There is a tremendous lack of staff, beds, and equipment used to care for patients.  

In an inside look at St. Charles Hospital ICU in Oregon, leaders claimed that their lack of resources was so low that at one point, they had non-COVID patients die due to a lack of beds following a spike in COVID-related hospitalizations.  

What is to come next? We don’t know. We are in a limbo of the unknown. What will become of the future of healthcare if something doesn’t give? 

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