The Oklahoma Hospital Association has outlined several key points for the public to understand about hospital ICU bed capacity and patient care during COVID-19, as well as what the public can do to lessen the strain on the hospital system.

Hospital ICU capacity is very fluid and can change hour to hour.

When data is provided about hospital ICU capacity in the metro areas, it is important to note that data is just a point in time. Hospital capacity changes throughout the day as patients are admitted, discharged or moved to a different level of care.

This is typical not just during a pandemic. Hospitals carefully monitor capacity daily and trend over time for staffing purposes.

Hospital ICU capacity is based on the number of staffed beds available. In other words, it doesn’t reflect the number of empty or occupied beds alone, rather the number of beds that the hospital has health care clinicians available to staff at a point in time.

To effectively manage hospital expenses, hospitals do not routinely staff empty beds on an ongoing basis.

Capacity is tight at times year around even without a pandemic.