Greater Cincinnati hospitals set a monthly record when they went “on diversion” 174 times in February.

        A diversion means that a hospital has asked life squads to take all but the most unstable patients someplace else for all or part of an eight-hour shift.

        Diversions generally occur because hospitals lack the staff to take on more patients; because all beds are full in key areas such as intensive care units; or, less commonly, because emergency departments are swamped.

        In February, many hospitals reported that their emergency departments and bed floors were jammed with sick people, from strokes to car wrecks to elderly people with breathing problems. No one type of illness dominated the month.

        February's diversions topped the previous monthly record by more than 50 percent — 112 set in February 2001. In fact, February's monthly total exceeded the entire year of 1999, when 139 diversions were reported.

        Those patients with the most severe health problems are still getting prompt care, hospital and emergency transport officials agree. The effect of diversions, so far, has been longer waiting times for non-life-threatening care and increasing times that life squads spend out-of-service.

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