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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Dr. Jasmeet Sandhu, Hospitalist at Elmhurst Hospital
3:32:00
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170 sec
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Dr. Jasmeet Sandhu, a hospitalist at Elmhurst Hospital, testifies about the challenges faced by physicians in NYC Health + Hospitals, particularly focusing on staffing shortages, burnout, and the impact on patient care. She emphasizes the need for competitive salaries to recruit and retain doctors, especially in subspecialties.
- Describes the strain on the healthcare system since the COVID-19 pandemic, with many doctors leaving or retiring early
- Highlights the severe understaffing in subspecialties like endocrinology, rheumatology, and psychiatry, leading to delayed consults and long wait times for patients
- Argues that the lack of outpatient care due to staffing issues results in more expensive emergency room visits and hospital admissions, increasing healthcare costs with poor outcomes
Jasmeet Sandhu
3:32:00
Sorry.
3:32:00
Just give me one second.
3:32:03
I am a hospitalist at Elmhurst in Queens.
3:32:06
As a hospitalist, I deal with patients in inpatient hospital setting.
3:32:10
I practice I started practicing since 2020 during the peak of the COVID pandemic, which Elmhurst was the epicenter.
3:32:18
I have watched my colleagues work long hours every day desperately trying to save as many lives as we could.
3:32:23
We could hardly take we hardly took any breaks with low resources, but the community needed us, and we did not hesitate to help.
3:32:31
Many people quit during the pandemic or retired early.
3:32:34
I hope as amount of case sorry.
3:32:37
I hoped as the amount of COVID cases started to drop, we would finally get a break because we were so burnt out, but we did not.
3:32:45
The volume patients did not decrease, and those who were stayed were overwhelmed by this volume.
3:32:50
This is severe with the subspecialties, which include endocrinology, rheumatology, infectious disease, psychiatry, hematology, and oncology.
3:32:59
Because of the uncompetitive salary among these subspecialties, many have left leaving unfilled vacancies.
3:33:05
I had one colleague who loved working in Elmhurst, but he had to leave because he was working overtime almost every day.
3:33:12
He had a newborn and home and left because he had to help support his family.
3:33:16
The subspecialties work in the hospital and in the clinic, splitting their time between the 2.
3:33:23
The lack of staff is so severe that some departments are left with 1 physician.
3:33:28
And when that physician takes a much needed break vacation, we don't have that service available.
3:33:34
This impacts my work and my patients care directly.
3:33:37
At times, consults are delayed because they're so overwhelmed by the volume of patients they are seeing in clinic.
3:33:42
And because the clinic is overwhelmed, patients are waiting for months to see their provider.
3:33:48
Those with severe chronic illnesses can't wait that long and end up in the hospital.
3:33:52
Something simple that could have been managed outside the hospital ends up in the ER because the patient is in severe pain or an acute crisis, impacting their daily function.
3:34:02
Doc, I can't go to work.
3:34:04
I'm in severe pain.
3:34:05
I can't wait for the clean
Adedayo Adedeji
3:34:06
time has expired?
3:34:08
Thank you.
Mercedes Narcisse
3:34:12
You can summarize it.
3:34:13
If you can finish in 2 sentences, please.
Jasmeet Sandhu
3:34:17
Basically, I I'm it's very frustrating to watch, patients who could have been managed outpatient.
3:34:23
It takes a it's a couple of $100 for a clinic visit, and they get admitted to emergency room.
3:34:29
And in hospital admission, it's gonna be a couple of 1,000 of dollars.
3:34:32
So it's it's a high cost of health care with low poor outcome.
3:34:38
The main thing is you're gonna see here recruit, retain, and respect.
3:34:41
That's what we want.
Mercedes Narcisse
3:34:42
Thank you.
Jasmeet Sandhu
3:34:42
We want a competitive salary to recruit.
3:34:45
We wanna retain the great positions we have, and we want respect with good part, good faith bargaining.