Section of Hospital Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
Center for Global Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Jun;36(6):1771-1774. doi: 10.1007/s11606-021-06675-y. Epub 2021 Mar 25.
A virtual hospitalist program expanded our ability to confront the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis at the epicenter of the pandemic in New York City. In concert with on-site hospitalists and redeployed physicians, virtual hospitalists aimed to expand capacity while maintaining high-quality care and communication. The program addressed multiple challenges created by our first COVID-19 surge: high patient census and acuity; limitations of and due to personal protective equipment; increased communication needs due to visitor restrictions and the uncertain nature of the novel disease, and limitations to in-person work for some physicians. The program created a mechanism to train and support new hospitalists and provide and expand palliative care services. We describe how our virtual hospitalist program operated during our COVID-19 surge in April and May 2020 and reflect on potential roles of virtual hospitalists after the COVID-19 crisis passes.
一个虚拟医院医生项目扩大了我们的能力，以应对纽约市新冠疫情中心大流行期间的挑战。虚拟医院医生与现场医院医生和重新部署的医生合作，旨在扩大容量的同时保持高质量的护理和沟通。该项目解决了我们首次新冠疫情激增带来的多个挑战：高患者数量和病情严重程度；个人防护设备的限制和由于防护设备导致的限制；由于访客限制和新型疾病的不确定性增加了沟通需求，以及一些医生无法进行面对面工作。该项目创建了一种培训和支持新的医院医生以及提供和扩大姑息治疗服务的机制。我们描述了我们的虚拟医院医生项目在 2020 年 4 月和 5 月新冠疫情期间的运作情况，并思考了新冠疫情危机过后虚拟医院医生的潜在作用。
