Information Technology in Support of Our Heroes during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Commentary
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RESPONSE TO COVID-19/COMMENTARY
Information Technology in Support of Our Heroes during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Commentary Steven K. Magid, MD
& Jamie
Nelson, MBA
Received: 3 June 2020/Accepted: 23 July 2020 * Hospital for Special Surgery 2020
Keywords COVID-19 . pandemic . information technology . public health . clinical informatics . change management
Heroes Work Here It is difficult to describe the debt of gratitude that is owed to our first responders, the emergency room teams, and those at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) who stepped out of their comfort zone to care for the sickest-of-the-sick COVID-19 patients as HSS transitioned from a specialty hospital to a general hospital. They indeed are our heroes. And as with all highly functioning teams, there are many others who labored tirelessly behind the scenes (and at times side-by-side) to support the mission. Here we describe the work of one such team at HSS: Information Technology (IT). A bit like air and water, IT is hardly noticeable, until the supply is disrupted. And as with air and water, IT is crucial to the survival of an organization in times of stability, and even more so in times of crisis [1, 3, 6]. After COVID-19 swept through China and Europe, and then arrived on the West Coast of the USA, it became clear that the New York City area was likely to become the epicenter of the pandemic. Predictions became increasingly dire. Hospitals and intensive care units (ICUs) would be overrun. In response, in late March 2020, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered hospitals to
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-020-09785-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. S. K. Magid, MD (*) : J. Nelson, MBA Hospital for Special Surgery, 535 70th St, New York, NY, USA e-mail: [email protected]
increase their bed capacity by 50 to 100% and to submit a surge plan. Founded in 1863 as the Hospital for the Ruptured and the Crippled, HSS has been in continuous operation ever since, with a singular focus on the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases. Not even the Civil War interrupted its mission. Yet this was the scene that HSS was facing when by order of Governor Cuomo all elective surgery was halted. HSS had already taken critical steps to ensure its ability to respond to the oncoming catastrophe. By March 17, HSS had voluntarily reduced its operating room procedures to only urgent and emergent cases and its occupancy by 80% to be able to create surge capacity. Leadership Lessons in Interconnectivity and Communication A senior leadership team at HSS was quickly established and situated in the board room to function as the incident command center. This team provided crucial guidance as the crisis unfolded. The infection prevention and emergency support teams were located in nearby rooms. It was obvious that these leadership teams needed to communicate with each other, as well as with colleagues onsite and elsewhere. Many IT tools were implemented to support thes
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