Rethinking Surge Preparedness After COVID-19: Effective Patient Load Balancing Within Health Systems and Beyond.

Within weeks of New York State's first confirmed case of COVID-19, New York City became the epicenter of the nation's COVID-19 pandemic. With more than 80,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations during the first wave alone, hospitals in downstate New York were forced to adapt existing procedures to manage the surge and care for patients facing a novel disease. Given the unprecedented surge, effective patient load balancing-moving patients from a hospital with diminishing capacity to another hospital within the same health system with relatively greater capacity-became chief among the capabilities required of New York health systems.

Tiered Model of Nurse Staffing for Critical Care and Emergency Departments in the Wake of a Pandemic.

Aim: To identify strategies that increase hospital bed capacity, material resources, and available nurse staffing during a national pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak resulted in an influx of acutely ill patients requiring critical care. The volume and acuity of this patient population increased the demand for care and stretched hospitals beyond their capacity.