November 8, 2021 – Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital is delaying all of its non-emergency inpatient and outpatient surgeries and procedures through Nov. 28, due to the fact that its caregivers have been caring for extremely high numbers of patients for many months.
The monthslong patient load includes COVID and non-COVID patients, an influx of patients with respiratory illnesses, such as RSV, as well as trauma-related injuries.
“Our patient volumes now exceed typical winter surge levels, which is unprecedented. Our typical in-patient volume this time of year is about 180 patients. In peak respiratory season, we average 230 patients. Yesterday, we cared for 249 hospitalized patients,” said Dustin Lipson, administrator of Primary Children’s Hospital. “To be clear, patients who urgently need surgeries and procedures will receive them. We are deploying caregivers in surgical and procedural areas to care for patients in other areas of the hospital.”