Bracing for the Wave: a Multi-Institutional Survey Analysis of Inpatient Workforce Adaptations in the First Phase of COVID-19.
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ABSTRACT: Background
Medical centers across the country have had to rapidly adapt clinician staffing strategies to accommodate large influxes of patients with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Objective
We sought to understand the adaptations and staffing strategies that US academic medical centers employed in the inpatient setting early in the spread of COVID-19, and to assess whether those changes were sustained during the first phase of the pandemic.Design
Cross-sectional survey assessing organization-level, team-level, and clinician-level inpatient workforce adaptations.Participants
Hospital medicine leadership at 27 academic medical centers in the USA.Key results
Twenty-seven of 36 centers responded to the survey (75%). Widespread practices included frequent staffing reassessment, organization-level changes such as geographic cohorting and redeployment of non-hospitalists, and exempting high-risk healthcare workers from direct care of patients with COVID-19. Several practices were implemented but discontinued, such as reduction of non-essential services, indicating that they were less sustainable for large centers.Conclusion
These findings provide guidance for inpatient leaders seeking to identify sustainable practices for COVID-19 inpatient workforce planning.
SUBMITTER: Linker AS
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8161717 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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