SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 News) – Intermountain Healthcare says they may be forced to postpone some elective surgeries that require a hospital stay in response to the rising amount of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Utah.
Intermountain Healthcare says this step will be taken in order to “conserve intensive medicine resources and help reduce hospital capacity.”
Intermountain Healthcare also says that only surgeries that “can be safely postponed” would potentially be delayed.
Delaying elective surgeries would allow Intermountain Healthcare to free up space and hospital beds, preserve supplies and give hospital caregivers the necessary time to treat patients that have COVID-19 and those that don’t, Intermountain Healthcare said in a release.
“Our intent is to continue to provide surgical care where possible and make adjustments as needed as our resources get stressed,” said Dr. Rob Ferguson, Intermountain’s senior medical director of surgical operations
“Rather than introduce a blanket postponement of cases like we did in the spring, we have a fine-tuned process at each hospital that allows us greater precision in balancing the surgical needs of our patients with the resources available at each hospital,” Dr. Ferguson said.
Any postponed surgeries will be rescheduled after the surge in COVID-19 cases subsides.
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