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The 2022 Colorado Legislature pass HB22-1401 to strengthen the Colorado hospital licensing regulations related to hospital preparedness to respond to unplanned emergencies in Colorado. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to require hospital beds for many individuals, as well as seasonal diseases (most recently RSV and flu related hospitalization). Simultaneously, elective and non-elective surgeries continue to be scheduled, and emergency trauma, life threatening cardio-vascular events, and multiple other emergency medical conditions continue to arrive in our hospital emergency departments.
Unfortunately, there is woefully inadequate nurse staffing in the Emergency Departments a s well as every other medical/surgical and intensive care unit bed in the hospital. There are also significant nurse staffing shortages in all long-term care and sub-acute care facilities making discharge from hospitals delayed, at best. It is important to note, that staff shortages extend beyond nursing staff, and include pharmacy, respiratory therapy, housekeeping, dietary, and all the staff in IT, finance and other departments that support the front-line staff.
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