Dr. Jeff Louie

It depends on the seasonality.

It depends on the seasonality.

Yeah, okay. And this year was weird. This last winter was weird because it had to do with kids going back to school. Usually there's a sequence of events that we can kind of predict. As winter starts coming down, you know, kids are in school. Usually around December, January, maybe October, November, we'll start seeing the flu virus. And then sometime after that, we'll start seeing the RSV virus.

Yeah, okay. And this year was weird. This last winter was weird because it had to do with kids going back to school. Usually there's a sequence of events that we can kind of predict. As winter starts coming down, you know, kids are in school. Usually around December, January, maybe October, November, we'll start seeing the flu virus. And then sometime after that, we'll start seeing the RSV virus.

And it kind of follows influenza. But this year, it was really difficult because we're seeing a combination for almost five months, winter months, of COVID kids, influenza kids, and RSV kids all at once. Whoa. So that's why many emergency departments, including ours, had long waiting times because we just seen so many kids.

And it kind of follows influenza. But this year, it was really difficult because we're seeing a combination for almost five months, winter months, of COVID kids, influenza kids, and RSV kids all at once. Whoa. So that's why many emergency departments, including ours, had long waiting times because we just seen so many kids.

And this is back in a day where kids had to be COVID negative or positive to go back to school. And so we're doing a lot of testing for COVID that parents can say, hey, my kid was sick. We went to the emergency department and they are COVID negative. So they need to go back to school. And that was a huge problem is that there weren't enough

And this is back in a day where kids had to be COVID negative or positive to go back to school. And so we're doing a lot of testing for COVID that parents can say, hey, my kid was sick. We went to the emergency department and they are COVID negative. So they need to go back to school. And that was a huge problem is that there weren't enough

access points for parents to get free COVID testing and get a result right away so that kids go back to school or they go back to daycare. So last winter we saw, we're seeing over a hundred kids almost 150, I can't remember, but definitely 120 kids a day for months. And, you know, on top of boarding kids for the mental health and residential.

access points for parents to get free COVID testing and get a result right away so that kids go back to school or they go back to daycare. So last winter we saw, we're seeing over a hundred kids almost 150, I can't remember, but definitely 120 kids a day for months. And, you know, on top of boarding kids for the mental health and residential.

And so we had to think outside the box on ways that we can safely manage these kids, treat them appropriately, resuscitate appropriately, and then either admit them or send them home. You have 120 kids on average a day. In a 12-day unit.

And so we had to think outside the box on ways that we can safely manage these kids, treat them appropriately, resuscitate appropriately, and then either admit them or send them home. You have 120 kids on average a day. In a 12-day unit.

And how many physicians? We upstaffed our group. So we have almost two physicians for about 18 hours a day, sometimes even three. Okay. To four. Just so that we continue to need to move patients and make sure they're safe before they go home or need to get admitted.

And how many physicians? We upstaffed our group. So we have almost two physicians for about 18 hours a day, sometimes even three. Okay. To four. Just so that we continue to need to move patients and make sure they're safe before they go home or need to get admitted.

Yeah. We typically have, back in the day when this really hit us hard, we were always short nurses, but in general, in the evening time, I'd say we'd have four to five nurses. Okay. With three to four docs. Yeah. But we have to kind of keep in the back of our mind of the boarders and the EDs. They are also in our patient population that we have to take care of.

Yeah. We typically have, back in the day when this really hit us hard, we were always short nurses, but in general, in the evening time, I'd say we'd have four to five nurses. Okay. With three to four docs. Yeah. But we have to kind of keep in the back of our mind of the boarders and the EDs. They are also in our patient population that we have to take care of.

So we were pretty thin on ratios, right? You always talk about nurse ratios to patient ratios. At times, and I'm sure it was across the Twin Cities where I'd have one ED nurse taking care of six to seven kids. And I'd have, and the doc ratio was, you know, especially on the overnights was one doc with maybe 15, 20 patients. So it was, we were stretched really, really thin.

So we were pretty thin on ratios, right? You always talk about nurse ratios to patient ratios. At times, and I'm sure it was across the Twin Cities where I'd have one ED nurse taking care of six to seven kids. And I'd have, and the doc ratio was, you know, especially on the overnights was one doc with maybe 15, 20 patients. So it was, we were stretched really, really thin.

We were certainly seeing sicker kids because they didn't want to show up I think parents are waiting to see if their kids will get better or not. You're delaying coming in. There's also a combination of parents just want the parents to trigger too fast. It's like the old expression of bioterrorism. You may not have been exposed to the gas, but you want to be evaluated.

We were certainly seeing sicker kids because they didn't want to show up I think parents are waiting to see if their kids will get better or not. You're delaying coming in. There's also a combination of parents just want the parents to trigger too fast. It's like the old expression of bioterrorism. You may not have been exposed to the gas, but you want to be evaluated.