• Updated: Feb. 12, 2021 7:07 p.m.
arrow Nurse at Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital goes on strike over safe staffing issues during the coronavirus pandemic, in New Rochelle. Mark Lennihan/AP/Shutterstock
When the first wave of COVID-19 hit Brooklyn Hospital Center, April Kehoe often found herself rushing between six different patients in a makeshift Intensive Care Unit far more than the one- or two- patient caseload typically considered safe for nurses in this setting.
The second surge has brought fewer hospitalizations, but Kehoe says the staffing shortages remain. She is still routinely assigned three or four intensive care patients at a time, a situation she says increases the risk of making medication errors or missing changes in a patient’s status.