This flu season, Benny Matthew — a nurse at the Montefiore Medical Center emergency room in the Bronx — has often been responsible for 15 to 20 patients at a time.
By 3 p.m. most days, the emergency room is often exploding with patients, Matthew said. Hospital gurneys stand inches apart. When beds run out, patients squeeze into tightly packed chairs. When the chairs run out, patients must stand. Wait times to see a doctor can be up to six hours. At the same time, the hospital is advertising more than 700 nursing positions.
“We go home feeling like failures,” Matthew said. “There are times when you can’t sleep because you’re thinking: ‘Did I do anything wrong today?'”
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