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Asante exits crisis standards of care under the Nurse Staffing Law
These standards have been in effect for nearly three months.
On Monday, March 6, the governor’s state of emergency for pediatric and adult respiratory viruses came to an end. With that ending, Asante is required to halt crisis standards of care.
Asante Rogue Regional and Asante Three Rivers adopted crisis standards of care this past December under the Nurse Staffing Law, which allowed Asante to adjust staffing plans systemwide to meet the needs of patients.
“The state of emergency and crisis standards of care were not intended to be solutions for staffing,” said Amanda Kotler, RN, Asante chief nursing officer. “However, they helped us optimize all our resources across the organization.”
Exiting crisis standards of care will have little impact on our teams. Disaster documentation will end, but daily capacity huddles and procedural huddles will continue, and short- and long-term staffing strategies will remain in effect.
“In some instances, we’ve made progress on improving nurse staffing levels and decreasing emergent patient volumes,” Kotler said. “We will continue to take steps to address capacity and staffing challenges through every possible means.”
This includes recruitment and retention, offering incentive pay for extra shifts, hiring contract labor and more.
In the next few weeks, the Nurse Staffing Incident Command will meet to evaluate Asante’s transition out of crisis standards of care. “Our teams have been extraordinary during these incredibly challenging times, and they have my deepest appreciation,” Kotler said. “I am grateful for all our employees for their continued dedication and amazing care of our patients.”
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