Staffing problems continue to challenge hospital

The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.’s ability to deliver quality healthcare services in a consistent basis is being hampered by lack of funding to get all its needed professionals and medical workers.
This is evident in the annual report submitted to the CHCC board by Commonwealth Health Center services director Jesse Tudela. In the report, he cited that lack of staff is the most common challenge in almost every unit of the hospital.

In the physical therapy services department, it was revealed that lack of manpower is a major concern especially with the increase in in-patient census. There are two staff therapist vacant positions that are now being advertised. The PT department is open five days weekly providing physical therapy services to in-patient and outpatient clientele.

Also due to lack of funding for operation, it was disclosed that the department is also not able to procure medical supplies to do wound care and dressing. As an example, the purchase of non-adherent pad for dressing is unavailable or not in stock. Because of this unavailability, it will further delay wound care and patients purchasing the dressing. Contributing to this challenge is the increasing demand that PT staff do all dressing changes, which is a shared responsibility with nurses.

Despite these, Tudela reported that the PT department has done notable achievements, including its revenues generated from its patients that amounted to about $30,000 per month for outpatient services. This was achieved with only one full-time staff therapist, a PT aid, and a manager of the department.

At the radiology services department, the recruitment and retention of qualified personnel to fill two vacancies for x-ray and mammography technicians remains a concern. It was learned that there were inquiries from the U.S. mainland, but the base salary for the positions at CHCC is unattractive. Another challenge that needs special attention is the Guam Radiology Consultants staff obtaining accurate demographic information for in-patient from the schedule for billing. It was the recommendation to the department to have a dedicated staff to obtain information directly from patients.

“A recommendation to think of is to create three new positions for patient advocates and to hire them to provide patient rights information requirement under CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services), gathering accurate patient demographics and track daily inventory of patient rooms,” according to the report.

Last year, the department procured a new 16-slice CT scan and the repaired three ultrasound machines which improved the services at the unit. Another accomplishment noted is the salary adjustment made last year to all radiology staff.

In the respiratory care services, Tudela maintains that staffing is a concern. The unit has one RP vacancy that needs to be filled so that it can generate more revenues. “The challenge is recruiting an experienced RT for the salary base of the vacant position. The last potential applicant refused the salary offer and requested higher compensation,” it was disclosed.

Based on Tudela’s report, the hiring of a manager for the department resulted in stabilizing the unit from a massive staff turnover. The department then started the year with only three full-time RTs to provide patient care. Because of some hires, overtime costs were reduced. The department was also able to procure new ventilators and not in stock respiratory supplies. Since the department revived its testing services, this saves some costs in referring patients to off-island.

The in-patient pharmacy services of the hospital also needs another pharmacist to bring the department staff to three.

The same goes with for he laboratory unit that needs to hire a clinical lab technician and a clinical lab scientist. The hiring of a lab manager is still a challenge, too and the interim director is serving both capacities. Another challenge is the enormous amount of lab billing backlogs yet to be inputted into the system. Recently, CHC’s laboratory unit was recertified by CLIA as a result of major improvements in the unit.

Also reported is the need for additional personnel for the hospital’s food and dietetic services.

At the nursing department, it was revealed that 44 positions are up for hiring at present.