ATLANTA — On Thursday, Georgia reported more than 9,800 new cases making it one of the top 10 worst days the state has seen since the pandemic started. Medical staff members are now saying the severe overcrowding in hospitals is contributing to a shortage of healthcare workers.
Just this week, the CEO of the Georgia Nurses Association said that the nursing shortage in Georgia is worse than it's ever been before. More than a year into the pandemic, three in 10 healthcare professionals say they've considered leaving the profession, citing burnout stress, according to the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, hospitals across Georgia are desperate for more staff, including Northeast Health System out of Gainesville, which is looking to hire more than 500 nurses, according to a hospital spokesperson.
“I’ve seen people leave. I’ve heard of people leaving. I’ve had physician colleagues change fields and do other things. Me personally, I feel like it’s definitely cut my professional life expectancy by a few years, I’d say," explained Dr. Mehrdod Ehteshami.
The ER doctor added that he and his colleagues expected to see this fourth wave based on the rate of vaccinations. "The light that I knew that we would see last year wasn’t really the end of the tunnel. It was more of just an oncoming train,” he said
On Thursday, officials from six metro Atlanta hospitals provided an update on what they see on the front lines in ERs and ICUs.
The chief of staff at Grady said that they have more patients in their emergency department waiting for care than almost any other time on record.