TALLAHASSEE, FLa. — HCA Florida Capital Hospital experienced several impacts this month due to anIT security threat that took place at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare.
HCA saw a record influx of patients. According to HCA, the hospital census reached a record high of 118% and the acuity level of patients was also high. HCA said the typical number of patients seen daily ranges from 200 to 220, but during the IT issue, they reached a high influx of 338 patients.
Tara Beth Anderson, chief nursing officer at HCA Florida Capital Hospital, said during the two weeks TMH was offline, HCA cared for more than 600 additional patients and was also fortunate to have assistance from community partners. Those community partners included EMS, local government officials, and both nursing and technical schools.
According to HCA, approximately 200 additional students who needed clinical rotations and/or preceptors to continue their education were brought on, including students studying nursing, EMT/paramedic and technical fields.
"These students were a tremendous asset to us in assisting us with the patient care," said Anderson. "The unity and dedication of our internal nursing clinical teams and ancillary departments was crucial to proving quality and efficient care to our patients during this unprecedented time."
Anderson added that the capital hospital was also able to deliver two sets of twins that needed NICU during this event.
In addition to 200 students being brought on, nearly 50 support staff, clinical staff and leaders from nearby HCA Florida Healthcare hospitals, the HCA Healthcare North Florida Division and HCA's Healthcare headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee supported the capital hospital by traveling to Tallahassee to assist onsite, HCA said. HCA reported that nearly 20 senior leaders from those at Capitol, the healthcare headquarters in Nashville and the HCA Healthcare division office manned the Emergency Operations Centers in both Tennessee and Tallahassee.
HCA said it was a 24/7 support system that monitored every patient, every supply need, every call for additional equipment, their IT systems and more.
Dr. Monique Butler, chief medical officer at HCA Healthcare North Florida Division said the HCA Florida Capital Hospital leadership team worked day in and day out in coordination with the HCA Florida Healthcare Network and local emergency operations teams to ensure Leon County and surrounding communities had access to healthcare services.
"I could not be prouder of the strategic coordination of our colleagues here in Tallahassee and across North Florida to launch into quick action to ensure our hospital could absorb volumes higher than we'd seen during the pandemic," said Butler. "We are also very grateful to have the support of HCA Healthcare to help take care of our communities when they needed us most."
TMH systems werefully restoredand returned to standard operations at all locations on Feb. 15.
