Articles: coronavirus.
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Confronted with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, New York City Health + Hospitals, the city's public health care system, rapidly expanded capacity across its eleven acute care hospitals and three new field hospitals. To meet the unprecedented demand for patient care, NYC Health + Hospitals redeployed staff to the areas of greatest need and redesigned recruiting, onboarding, and training processes. ⋯ Using new educational tools focused on COVID-19 content, the hospital system trained twenty thousand staff members, including nearly nine thousand nurses, within a two-month period. Creation of multidisciplinary teams, frequent enterprisewide communication, willingness to shift direction in response to changing needs, and innovative use of technology were the key factors that enabled the hospital system to meet its goals.
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The coronavirus emergency obliged Italy's government to stop production and trade activities to limit the =risk of contagion. Italy will restart activities in a few days and some security measures will have to be taken to limit the risks of spreading the virus as much as possible. ⋯ A narrative review with paucity of literature.
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Emergency measures to treat patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and contain the outbreak is the main priority in each of our hospitals; however, these measures are likely to result in collateral damage among patients with other acute diseases. Here, we investigate whether the COVID-19 pandemic affects acute stroke care through interruptions in the stroke chain of survival. ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic is disruptive for acute stroke pathways. Bottlenecks in the access and delivery of patients to our secured stroke centers are among the main challenges. It is critical to encourage patients to continue seeking emergency care if experiencing acute stroke symptoms and to ensure that emergency professionals continue to use stroke code activation and telestroke networks.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Aug 2020
Bereavement support on the frontline of COVID-19: Recommendations for hospital clinicians.
Deaths due to COVID-19 are associated with risk factors which can lead to prolonged grief disorder, post-traumatic stress, and other poor bereavement outcomes among relatives, as well as moral injury and distress in frontline staff. Here we review relevant research evidence and provide evidence-based recommendations and resources for hospital clinicians to mitigate poor bereavement outcomes and support staff. ⋯ Recommendations include advance care planning; proactive, sensitive, and regular communication with family members alongside accurate information provision; enabling family members to say goodbye in person where possible; supporting virtual communication; providing excellent symptom management and emotional and spiritual support; and providing and/or sign-posting to bereavement services. To mitigate effects of this emotionally challenging work on staff, we recommend an organizational and systemic approach which includes access to informal and professional support.