Kona Community Hospital has temporarily stopped accepting new patients in its medical oncology and chemotherapy infusion clinics, forcing those needing care to travel to Waimea, Hilo or Honolulu for treatment.
KCH Marketing and Strategic Planning Director Judy Donovan said the decision to not accept new patients as of Oct. 6 was made because of “a serious staffing crisis” within the clinics, however, current patients are still being treated.
The Kona Cancer Center’s chemotherapy infusion clinic is currently managing 494 patients and the medical oncology clinic has 705 patients at present. Donovan said the patient census since last year has fluctuated up, but not significantly.
Staffing loss has been due to attrition, however the hospital is beginning to utilize traveling nurses in those departments.
Under optimal staffing, the oncology clinic at the Kealakekua hospital can accommodate 16 patients per day and the infusion clinic 15 patients per day.
Currently, there is one medical doctor, one nurse practitioner, one registered nurse (RN) and one medical assistant in the medical oncology clinic.
The infusion clinic employs two RNs, one traveling RN and two per diem RNs when available.
Donovan said optimal staffing for the infusion clinic is four to five RNs, four patient access reps, two charge nurses, three medical assistants and two patient navigators. She was unable to provide details regarding the oncology clinic, however, noted both clinics are in need of more RNs and medical assistants.
“We have implemented a plan to staff up. Currently, we have three infusion RN travelers contracted to begin; one on October 11, one at the beginning of November and the third at the beginning of December,” said Donovan via email. “This week we hired an oncology clinic manager whose start date is November 1. We had excellent candidates for this position, and are very optimistic about the experience our new manager will bring to the oncology and infusion clinics.”
Donovan said like many health care facilities, Kona Community Hospital’s medical oncology and infusion clinics are experiencing staffing shortages.
“We are actively recruiting for nurses hospital-wide, including both clinics. We have a few good applicants, but chose to address the shortage of staff immediately by temporarily pausing on accepting new patient referrals,” she said. “This decision ensures that our current patients receive safe, quality treatment and the full attention of the staff who are committed to their care.”
In the interim, patients are being referred to Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital in Waimea and Hilo Medical Center for treatment.
Hilo Medical Center is accepting new patients and has experienced a slight increase in patient referrals since Kona Community Hospital has stopped accepting new patients.
“We have adequate staffing at this time, as we are growing in anticipation of moving into our new cancer center space,” said Elena Cabatu, HMC director of marketing and public affairs. “We have seen a slight increase in patient referrals, which we welcome here to serve the entire island.”
Kaiser Permanente spokesperson Laura Lott said the provider’s Kona medical office provides members with oncology and infusion services.
“The changes at Kona Hospital should not affect our infusion patients,” she said.
Donovan also noted that the temporary pause in accepting new patient referrals does not extend to the Kona Community Hospital’s radiation oncology clinic and encouraged interested individuals to visit the hospitals website to view all open positions at kch.hhsc.org/careers/
She anticipates the situation to be resolved by January, if not sooner.