Crowded St. Petersburg ER reopens after 12-hour closing Monday night

ST. PETERSBURG -- Bayfront Medical Center's emergency room was so crowded Monday night that it declined to take trauma cases for 12 hours.

At least one patient, a pedestrian who was struck by a car in St. Petersburg, was taken by helicopter to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, fire officials said.

Bayfront's shutdown was announced in a Monday evening memo from the hospital’s medical director to emergency responders. The memo instructed them to avoid sending patients there.

Walk-ins to the emergency room still were taken all night, said Bayfront spokeswoman Nancy Waite.

Waite said the "divert" notice was lifted at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, 12 hours after the original memo went out. The reason for the shutdown, Waite said, was patient volume.

"Our emergency director is constantly looking at the flow of patients in the ER," Waite said. "There were a lot of sick patients here at the hospital last night, and she made the call in the interests of patient safety."

Dr. Laurie Romig, who oversees emergency medical services in Pinellas County, said it's rare for a trauma center to be closed, though it happens a few times a year because of patient volume.

She said hospitals are nearing their busiest time of year, with winter illnesses worsening health conditions and snowbirds filling beds.

"Even a trauma center sometimes gets to the point where they simply can't take care of any more patients," Romig said. "I don't believe it was a major disruption at all."

In March, state regulators determined that a shortage of neurosurgeons caused several shutdowns at Bayfront, but that wasn’t the cause of the shuttering Monday night.

The pedestrian who was flown to Tampa was in good condition Tuesday.

Lt. Joel Granata, a spokesman for St. Petersburg Fire Rescue, said the didn’t think it took significantly more time to fly the patient to Tampa.

Luis Perez and Stephanie Garry, Times staff writers

Comments

[stpetelou]

This is not news. On any given day or night, at least one hospital in Pinellas County is on divert or closed status due to ER overcrowding, EMS and ER abuse, ER nurse understaffing, lack of available primary care doctors etc. In fact, St. Anthony's in St. Pete is closed right now (anyone can check the status of Tampa Bay hospitals by going to www.medcontrol.com/status.php), probably as a result of Bayfront being closed. Tampa General received the one trauma Bayfront should have received. That means the vast majority, dozens of non-trauma level patients, get diverted to the nearest ERs. So, when Bayfront closes, the nearest ERs--in this case, St. Anthony's and Ed White--will get the brunt of EMS overflow. That means everyone's resources get stretched thin, the staff is inundated and stressed to its limits, and the patients suffer the consequences. That isn't news. It's every day life in the ER.

[Common Sense]

Lou stop defending the biggest problem in this country. The medical institution is atrocious, it is a money grubbing industry that only cares about itself, this is evidence when you wait 3 hours every time you step in an ER, regardless of the severity. Sure its common, but its still ridiculous considering the funds flowing into these places...

[Sandra]

"Common Sense" doesn't seem to commom on this topic, with the exception of Lou. Wow you have to wait 3 whole hours for the best medical care on the planet, whoopty-doo! I guess your suggestion is to let government control the health industry...if so, you better be ready for those 3 hours of waiting to be replaced by 3 months.

[Common Sense]

I'm not advocating goverment control senator McCarth...I mean Sandra...

Geez, all I am saying is that you go into an ER and have to spend thousands of dollars and sometimes your entire day to hear some self-righteous doctor's input. You are nothing more than a number when you step into the ER. Yes, like millions of americans, I have a huge problem with the medical industry and how manipulative it is.

BTW, I do wonder if america does have the best medical care. Where are you getting that from? It surely is better than third world countries, but what really makes our medical care "the best"?

[neurogirl]

As a former trauma nurse at Bayfront, I have to tell you that while a three hour wait may be inconvenient it is certainly not because the doctors and nurses are sitting around drinking coffee and eating donuts. In fact, it is a rare day to even be fortunate enough to take a lunch break. If you don't want to wait, make sure you spread the word not to use the ER as a primary care center. ER is for EMERGENCY. Most that wait that long are deemed non-emergent (hence the reason they are able to wait) Is that a bad call in some cases? Of course, but RARELY. Just like every other area in life...mistakes can and do happen. We only see the bad news.

If you don't like the care you recieve or have no need for the doctor's "input" try WEBMD and save some money.

[justathought]

I feel that severe emergency/trauma patients should ALWAYS take first priority at ANY ER. It is stupid to fly a criical patient to Tampa when it would take 5 min.to Bayfront.Time is of the essence.Walk-in non emergency patients should be "diverted' or made to wait even longer. I shudder to think how it would feel if one of my loved ones,in a critical situation,died because the loss of some precious "golden hour"time.I would be FURIOUS,and devistatd.SHAME on ANY ER that diverts CRITICAL/TRAUMA patients!

[boundfornews]

Unless things have changed in the last 5 years, closing an ER usually has NOTHING to do with staffing in the Emergency Room Department.
Once ICU is filled to capacity, then they have to divert. Typically it depends on the Census of the hospital (ICU/CCU).
Personally if I had a Trauma situation, I would pray that Bayfront was diverting patients. 22 years as a nurse in Pinellas County, it is the WORST Emergency department i have ever seen, and that was on a personal level. God forbid I was there on a professional level, and could see all the flaws- behind closed doors!

[boundfornews]

Unless things have changed in the last 5 years, closing an ER usually has NOTHING to do with staffing in the Emergency Room Department.
Once ICU is filled to capacity, then they have to divert. Typically it depends on the Census of the hospital (ICU/CCU).
Personally if I had a Trauma situation, I would pray that Bayfront was diverting patients. 22 years as a nurse in Pinellas County, it is the WORST Emergency department i have ever seen, and that was on a personal level. God forbid I was there on a professional level, and could see all the flaws- behind closed doors!

[luvyrpet]

Bravo neurogirl. commonsense doenst know what he or she is talking about.