Keeping health care providers healthy amid Minnesota's "quad-demic"
MINNEAPOLIS — Twin Cities hospital leaders will be meeting again this week to game plan for the surge in patients visiting emergency rooms.
Data from the Minnesota Department of Health shows a sharp uptick in hospitalizations from flu, COVID, RSV and norovirus as of last week. The sickness surge is clogging emergency rooms everywhere, including at Children's Minnesota, M Health Fairview, Allina Health and Hennepin Healthcare.
"Leaders from all hospitals in the Allina Health system have been holding briefings to stay closely connected on needs related to this increase in respiratory illnesses and Norovirus," a spokeswoman for Allina Health told WCCO News. "They also have met with other systems and the Minnesota Hospital Association."
At Children's Minnesota, the so-called "quad-demic" means doctors and nurses will be wearing masks again when seeing patients, including pediatrician Dr. Chase Shutak.
"It's the same rules as on an airplane. If you don't put on your oxygen mask first, you can't put on anyone else's oxygen mask," Shutak said. "So if I'm sick, if one of my colleagues is sick, then we should stay home so we aren't getting anyone else sick."
According to Shutak, parents are understandably nervous about their children's well-being, but the ER should be the last resort.
"Even when a child is vomiting a lot, they may not truly be dehydrated. And so you may feel the need to kind of go into the emergency department because, 'Oh my gosh, my child won't stop throwing up,' but they won't necessarily do anything there that they wouldn't do at the clinic," Shutak said.
When to go to the ER is a tough call, but the root of emergency is "emergent." One question for parents to consider: Is the issue worth what could be a very long wait?
"The couple of things that really require you to go to the emergency department tend to be either trauma, you know, so some sort of accident of injury, or a really significant breathing problem. So you're starting to turn blue, you're working harder to breathe," Shutak said. "If you don't plan on committing at least four to six hours on a visit to the emergency room, it may not actually be an emergency."
Shutak says we still haven't reached peak flu season, but we may have plateaued with RSV.
According to the Minnesota Healthcare Association, Minnesotans should also apply a series of precautions to protect themselves from other seasonal illnesses by doing the following:
- Stay home if you or your family are sick.
- Wash hands often.
- Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or shirt sleeve, not your hands.
- Clean frequently touched surfaces, such as doorknobs and mobile devices.
- Avoid close contact with sick people.
- Mask when appropriate.
- Stay up to date on vaccinations.
- Consider urgent care, a primary health provider, or telehealth options for non-emergency care.
- Have a primary care provider for your entire family and stay connected and up to date with preventative care so that the primary care team can partner with you on all health care issues.