What The Pandemic Taught Hawaii Hospitals About Their Capacity To Handle Calamity…Hospitals made do with existing space and invested in some new equipment, but the pandemic exposed a heavy reliance on out-of-state traveling nurses.
Hawaii health officials say the pandemic has spurred investment in new hospital equipment, like ventilators and intensive care patient monitoring technology, but a problem that hospitals faced well before the arrival of COVID-19 — a staffing shortage — persists.
When the need swells, Hawaii has had to rely on expensive outside help from traveling nurses and respiratory therapists.
“One thing the pandemic taught us is that we have more than adequate physical space and tech capacity,” said Lt. Gov. Josh Green, Hawaii’s pandemic medical liaison who has tracked hospital capacity statistics and shared them daily with the public on social media.
