PHOENIX — Arizona’s case count continues to grow and hospitals inch closer and closer to capacity. On Monday, state director of public health Dr. Cara Christ authorized hospitals to use crisis care standards.
The standards would provide guidelines on who and how to treat patients if resources get stretched too thin.
“This is my first time in my life, and my career that I have heard anything like this.” Dr. Matt Heinz a doctor in Tucson said.
Thankfully Arizona is not at a point yet where these standards are required but the state is in uncharted territory.
“We are at a point where we have a record number of hospitalized people in our state right now,” Dr. Heinz said.
All throughout the state, hospitals are trying to make more room to handle more cases. Hospitals are figuring out how to create more beds and for the hospitals out of room, and they are moving patients to facilities with available space.
The system has worked so far to keep the system afloat, but as numbers continue to rise there's concern about how long it can operate at this level.
There are still steps the state can take. Arizona is about to get more federal help in the way of nurses and doctors to help staff more beds. Northern Arizona Hospitals are accepting patients and have availability to take some of the overflow if needed.
However Wednesday, Arizona once again saw a record number of cases, numbers which are only expected to grow over the coming weeks.
If facilities implement the crisis care standards, a scoring system would be used to triage which patients are the priority for treatment and resources.
“What an awful thing to even contemplate,” Dr. Heinz said.
Under the scoring system, the higher you score, the less likely you are to get the resources. The system takes into account life expectancy after recovery and status of organs.
“This is not what I signed up for. This is not what the nurses, or doctors and respiratory therapists, none of us in healthcare signed up for picking and choosing who lives and dies,” Dr. Heinz said.
For the doctor, it is still too early to talk about this plan. He said the growth can still be stopped by simple steps with community help, such as more tests and wearing a mask.
"Let’s just not get there. Let's stay home wear a mask and do all the things we need to do as a community so we are not picking and choosing whose grandmothers die," Dr. Heinz said.
