One of the main problems facing hospitals is a shortage of nursing staff with Gov. Gavin Newsom saying the state may actually look overseas for extra workers.
Nursing expert Dr. Joanne Spetz of UC San Francisco tells KNX 1070 News that means that the normal ratio of one nurse to every ICU patient has gone up in some cases to two, three or even four patients.
"When a nurse or a physician or a respiratory therapist has to make a decision on who is going to get a ventilator or who is going to be admitted or not. Their training and the way people think is 'we should be caring for everybody.' That is why people go into the healthcare field. So to have to make those decisions is just deeply, morally, ethically wounding," she says.
She says that nurses face big psychological problems that are termed 'moral distress.'
The Governor has said the nursing shortage is so bad that staff may be brought in from overseas.