It makes sense that stretched thin hospital staff is more likely to make mistakes. Long hours, few breaks, too many patients – all of this interferes with a provider’s ability to think clearly or to act expeditiously. Most mistakes are minor, but some may bear significant consequences. The deadly consequences of understaffing are new being felt by a family in Everett who’s loved one died while waiting for care at the Providence Everett ER.

This is not the first example of a local emergency room in crisis – you may have read our prior coverage of the St. Michael’s emergency room having to call in firefighter Paramedics/EMTs to support the overburdened emergency department. I wrote at the time that it was a bit “disquieting to think about the patients whose condition worsened due to this delay.” And three weeks later, this news out of Everett.

One Providence Everett ER nurse reported that the emergency department was running out of room to evaluate patients coming in the door to the ER, and unable to triage some of these patients. And staffing shortages have led to nurses being responsible for more patients in the same shift.

But Providence Everett and St. Michael’s are merely examples of a wider trend. Staffing shortages predating COVID-19 were dramatically worsened during the various waves of the pandemic, and as other illnesses surge. Travel nurses have been pulled in to hospitals around the country to fill these gaps, but shortages remain. Many of these shortages are due to hospital leadership intentionally running short staffed shifts, or driving hard bargains with nurses and nursing unions.

For their part, the Everett City and Snohomish County councils sent a joint letter of “disappointment” to the Providence Leadership. The letter pretty thoroughly details several of the conflicts between leadership and staff, as well as the result of these staffing shortfalls on patient care.

Providence has responded with several proposals. Let’s hope that other patients and families don’t have to needlessly suffer before effective solutions get implemented.