SD Officials Including Neonatal Beds in ICU Capacity Counts

South Dakota reported yesterday that coronavirus cases are taking up 607 hospital beds and 100 intensive care unit (ICU) beds. That’s 22% of our hospital beds and 34% of our ICU beds.

That latter percentage would be even worse if the state weren’t counting neonatal ICU beds in the total:

South Dakota health officials acknowledged Tuesday that they include intensive care unit beds designed for infants in their total count of hospital beds available in the state — a key metric that the governor has used to defend her handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

…State epidemiologist Josh Clayton said the number of neonatal ICU beds is much smaller than the total number of ICU beds, but did not immediately provide the number of neonatal ICU beds included in the count. The Department of Health receives a total count of ICU beds from hospitals and the number of neonatal ICU beds is not separated in the count, according to Clayton.

He also pointed out that adults could receive medical care in pediatric units if necessary [Stephen Groves, “South Dakota Including Neonatal ICU Beds in Hospital Availability Totals,” AP via Rapid City Journal, 2020.11.10].

Adults can get care in the pediatric units? Maybe things have changed, but when my daughter was in the NICU after she was born in 2006, I didn’t see an adult beds among the tiny little baby pods.

And hey, Josh Clayton: how do you include the number of NICU besd in your count but not have that number available for the press? KELO-TV’s data guru Rae Yost looks around and finds the number isn’t exactly “much smaller” than the total; she pieces together data suggesting the NICU beds are a third of our total ICU capacity:

As of Oct. 6, the DOH said the state had 293 staffed ICU beds. Two organizations have South Dakota with 95 or 128 NICU beds.

But if NICU beds are included in the total, there are fewer ICU beds available for adults.

The American Academy of Pediatrics lists 27 NICU beds for Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls, 58 at Sanford Children’s BOEH and 28 in Rapid City for a total of 95.

…Neonatology Solutions website lists three level III NICU units in South Dakota with a total of 128 beds. Fifty-eight of those are Sanford beds, 42 at Avera McKennan and 28 in Rapid City (Monument Health).

Avera McKennan’s website lists a 42-bed, neonatal intensive care unit at Avera Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls.

Monument Health in Rapid City’s website lists 28 beds in a neonatal unit.

The Boekelheide Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Sioux Falls, a Sanford facility, is listed as a level IV facility but the number of beds is not listed. But AAP lists the unit as having 58 beds [Rae Yost, “South Dakota Includes NICU Beds in ICU Count, DOH Officials Say,” KELO-TV, 2020.11.10].

I guess the theme of the day is the constant mendacity of our Republican leaders. We can’t trust them for an honest assessment of our ICU bed situation any more than we can trust them for honest assessments of mask science or election integrity.