The Mount Sinai Hospital Institute for critical care medicine response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in a surge of critically ill patients. This was especially true in New York City. We present a roadmap for hospitals and healthcare systems to prepare for a Pandemic. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of how Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) was able to rapidly prepare to handle the pandemic. MSH, the largest academic hospital within the Mount Sinai Health System, rapidly expanded the intensive care unit (ICU) bed capacity, including creating new ICU beds, expanded the workforce, and created guidelines. RESULTS: MSH a 1,139-bed quaternary care academic referral hospital with 104 ICU beds expanded to 1,453 beds (27.5% increase) with 235 ICU beds (126% increase) during the pandemic peak in the first week of April 2020. From March to June 2020, with follow-up through October 2020, MSH admitted 2,591 COVID-19-positive patients, 614 to ICUs. Most admitted patients received noninvasive support including a non-rebreather mask, high flow nasal cannula, and noninvasive positive pressure ventilation. Among ICU patients, 68.4% (n=420) received mechanical ventilation; among the admitted ICU patients, 42.8% (n=263) died, and 47.8% (n=294) were discharged alive. CONCLUSIONS: Flexible bed management initiatives; teamwork across multiple disciplines; and development and implementation of guidelines were critical accommodating the surge of critically ill patients. Non-ICU services and staff were deployed to augment the critical care work force and open new critical care units. This approach to rapidly expand bed availability and staffing across the system helped provide the best care for the patients and saved lives.

Timing of Intubation and In-Hospital Mortality in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019.

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether increasing time between admission and intubation was associated with mortality in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 who underwent mechanical ventilation. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection who were admitted between January 30, 2020, and April 30, 2020, and underwent intubation and mechanical ventilation prior to May 1, 2020. Patients were followed up through August 15, 2020. SETTING: Five hospitals within the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, NY. PATIENTS: Adult patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection who underwent intubation and mechanical ventilation. INTERVENTIONS: Tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. A hospital-stratified time-varying Cox model was used to evaluate the effect of time from admission to intubation on in-hospital death. A total of 755 adult patients out of 5,843 admitted with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection underwent tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation during the study period. The median age of patients was 65 years (interquartile range, 56-72 yr) and 64% were male. As of the time of follow-up, 121 patients (16%) who were intubated and mechanically ventilated had been discharged home, 512 (68%) had died, 113 (15%) had been discharged to a skilled nursing facility, and 9 (1%) remained in the hospital. The median time from admission to intubation was 2.3 days (interquartile range, 0.6-6.3 d). Each additional day between hospital admission and intubation was significantly associated with higher in-hospital death (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.05). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 who were intubated and mechanically ventilated, intubation earlier in the course of hospital admission may be associated with improved survival.

Managing COVID-19 from the epicenter: adaptations and suggestions based on experience.

In March 2020, the New York City metropolitan area became the epicenter of the United States' SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the surge of new cases threatened to overwhelm the area's hospital systems. This article describes how an anesthesiology department at a large urban academic hospital rapidly adapted and deployed to meet the threat head-on. Topics included are preparatory efforts, development of a team-based staffing model, and a new strategy for resource management. While still maintaining a fully functioning operating theater, discrete teams were deployed to both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 intensive care units, rapid response/airway management team, the difficult airway response team, and labor and delivery. Additional topics include the creation of a temporary 'pop-up' anesthesiology-run COVID-19 intensive care unit utilizing anesthesia machines for monitoring and ventilatory support as well as the development of a simulation and innovation team that was instrumental in the rapid prototyping of a controlled split-ventilation system and conversion of readily available BIPAP units into emergency ventilators. As the course of the disease is uncertain, the goal of this article is to assist others in preparation for what may come next with COVID-19 as well as potential future pandemics.