Interprofessional/interdisciplinary teamwork during the early COVID-19 pandemic: experience from a children’s hospital within an academic health center
JoAnne E. Natale, Judie Boehmer, Dean A. Blumberg, Constantine Dimitriades, Shinjiro Hirose, Laura R. Kair, J. Douglas Kirk, Stephanie Mateev, Heather McKnight, Jennifer Plant, Leah Tzimenatos, Jean T. Wiedeman, Jessica Witkowski, Mark A. Underwood, Satyan Lakshminrusimha
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has created multiple, complex and intense demands on hospitals, including the need for surge planning in the many locations outside epicenters such as northern Italy or New York City. We here describe such surge planning in an Academic Health Center that encompasses a children's hospital. Interprofessional teams from every aspect of inpatient care and hospital operations worked to prepare for a COVID-19 surge. In so doing, they successfully innovated ways to integrate pediatric and adult care and maximize bed capacity. The success of this intense collaborative effort offers an opportunity for ongoing teamwork to enhance efficient, effective, and high-quality patient care.