Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant strain on emergency departments (EDs) that were not designed to care for many patients who may be highly contagious. This report outlines how a busy urban ED was adapted to prepare for COVID-19 via 3 primary interventions: (1) creating an open-air care space in the ambulance bay to cohort, triage, and rapidly test patients with suspected COVID-19, (2) quickly constructing temporary doors on all open treatment rooms, and (3) adapting and expanding the waiting room. This description serves as a model by which other EDs can repurpose their own care spaces to help ensure safety of their patients and health care workers.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2676-2679 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 4 2022 |
Keywords
- covid-19
- disaster planning
- efficiency
- emergency care systems
- emergency department operations
- emergency medicine
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health