Hospitals

KUOW Newsroom

As WA lawmakers consider a safe staffing bill, nurses warn of crisis conditions and risks to patients

'It's really important that we do have this safe staffing standard because adding more patients to the nurse's workload is literally hurting patients every single day. It's not good for them.'

KUOW Newsroom

Here's something depressing for the holidays: states set new record for total annual deaths in 2021

The year 2021 isn’t even over, yet Oregon and Washington have already smashed their previous records for total annual deaths. Those records were just set last year. The coronavirus pandemic is only one piece of the explanation.

KUOW Newsroom

He’s 13-years-old, autistic and stuck in the hospital for the holidays. He’s not the only one

It's a growing problem in Washington: kids with developmental disabilities and complex behaviors who are stuck in the hospital with no reason for being there. Usually, they end up in the hospital after a crisis or an incident. But once the child is medically cleared to leave, their parents or their group home won't come get them citing inadequate supports to manage the youth's needs. While the state searches for alternative placements, the child waits.

KUOW Newsroom

Pacific NW governors hold fast on vax deadline as local officials warn of worker exodus

The days are quickly ticking down to next Monday's deadline when most Oregon and Washington teachers, health care workers and public employees need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Elected officials especially in more conservative swaths of the Pacific Northwest remain fearful of a "mass exodus" of firefighters and health care professionals.

Nursing and war require alert personnel. These researchers are studying fatigue countermeasures

Long hours. Extreme fatigue. You couldn't miss it in the faces of soldiers and refugees at Kabul Airport last month and you can't miss it now in the faces of caregivers in hospitals here at home. It just so happens that Washington State University Spokane is in the midst of a series of studies of how sleep deprivation affects people in high stress, high risk jobs.

KUOW Newsroom

Trickle-down effects from Washington's overcrowded hospitals

The overcrowded hospitals we've been telling you about for weeks are having ripple effects out into the community -- some you could predict and some which are a little more startling. Take for example a fire that gutted a house in Ocean Shores or expensive airlifts from Leavenworth, Washington.