Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant strain on emergency departments (EDs) that were not designed to care for many patients who may be highly contagious. This report outlines how a busy urban ED was adapted to prepare for COVID-19 via 3 primary interventions: (1) creating an open-air care space in the ambulance bay to cohort, triage, and rapidly test patients with suspected COVID-19, (2) quickly constructing temporary doors on all open treatment rooms, and (3) adapting and expanding the waiting room. This description serves as a model by which other EDs can repurpose their own care spaces to help ensure safety of their patients and health care workers.
Highlights
The novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has become a once-in-a-generation pandemic, swiftly infecting millions across the world
While protective equipment (PPE) are critical to protecting the health care workforce, engineering controls play a significant role in reducing occupational exposure rates.[4]
These approaches often do not adhere to these guidelines, forcing many emergency departments (EDs) to rapidly redesign spaces that have become unsafe during a pandemic. This intervention occurred in an urban academic ED (> 94000 annual visits) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This ED has many open treatment rooms with curtain barriers rather than closed doors, and patients are often pulled to the hallway to create additional capacity during times of crowding
Summary
The novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has become a once-in-a-generation pandemic, swiftly infecting millions across the world. This ED has many open treatment rooms with curtain barriers rather than closed doors, and patients are often pulled to the hallway to create additional capacity during times of crowding. In order to minimize risk of transmission, the ED was adapted via 3 primary interventions: (1) creating an open-air care space in the ambulance bay to cohort, triage, and rapidly test patients with suspected COVID-19, (2) constructing temporary doors on all open treatment rooms, and (3) adapting and expanding the waiting room.
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