Rapid Expansion of the Airway Response Team to Meet the Needs of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented numbers of patients with acute respiratory distress to medical centers. Hospital systems require rapid adaptation to respond to the increased demand for airway management while ensuring high quality patient care and provider safety. There is limited literature detailing successful system-level approaches to adapt to the surge of COVID-19 patients requiring airway management.

Methods: A deliberate system-level approach was used to expand a preexisting airway response service. Through a needs analysis (taking into account both existing resources and anticipated demands), we established priorities and solutions for the airway management challenges encountered during the pandemic.

Results: During our COVID-19 surge (March 10, 2020, through May 26, 2020), there were 619 airway consults, and the COVID airway response team (CART) performed 341 intubations. Despite a 4-fold increase in intubations during the surge, there was no increase in cardiac arrests or surgical airways and no documented COVID-19 infections among the CART.

Conclusions: Our system-level approach successfully met the sudden escalation in demand in airway management incurred by the COVID-19 surge. The approach that addressed staffing needs prioritized provider protection and enhanced quality and safety monitoring may be adaptable to other institutions.