SCCM Resource Library-Hospital Stress, Adaptation, and Resiliency During Respiratory Viral Acute Surge Events

Pdf Summary

The provided document discusses the challenges hospitals face during respiratory viral surge events, such as annual influenza seasons and pandemics like COVID-19. During these events, hospitals must balance care for newly infected patients with ongoing care for other patients. This balance requires hospitals to exhibit both adaptation and resiliency. Adaptation refers to implementing new care processes based on experience to improve patient outcomes, while resiliency refers to maintaining high-quality care despite the stress of a surge event.<br /><br />The Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) Severe Acute Respiratory Infection-Preparedness (SARI-PREP) program, funded by the CDC Foundation, is highlighted as an initiative collecting data to enhance clinical management during such events. Hospitals face the challenge of innovating their care delivery processes and adapting treatments to novel threats. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals learnt quickly that many patients requiring high oxygen levels did not need invasive ventilation and adapted care strategies accordingly.<br /><br />Moreover, the document emphasizes hospitals' interconnected nature, where stress in one area can affect operations elsewhere. High bed occupancy can delay admissions, and resource strain can affect care quality for "bystander" patients—those not infected but still needing hospital care. The document discusses how variable hospital occupancy during the pandemic affected non-COVID-19 patient care.<br /><br />The focus on adaptation may sometimes compromise hospital resiliency, potentially affecting care for bystander patients. The text calls for identifying organizational factors that influence a hospital's ability to adapt and remain resilient, and whether these factors are modifiable. The aim is to improve hospitals' responses during future surge events, thereby enhancing care and outcomes for all patients.

Asset Subtitle

Crisis Management, Administration, 2021, 00:07:30

Asset Caption

This article was first published in the Spring 2021 issue of Critical Connections.

Respiratory viral acute surge events, in which hospitals face stress and capacity strain from an influx of infected patients, range from annual respiratory viral seasons dominated by seasonal inf luenza to rarer and more severe pandemics, including COVID-19. Two primary responsibilities for hospitals under stress during such surge events are to deliver care to newly infected patients and to continue to deliver care to all other patients. Optimizing outcomes for both infected patients and uninfected patients (i.e., bystander patients) admitted during public health emergencies requires that hospitals display:

Adaptation: the ability to improve patient care and outcomes by implementing new care processes based on accumulated experience
Resiliency: the ability to continue to deliver high-quality care to patients despite the presence of a surge event

Critical Connections, the critical care industry's only newsmagazine, provides information on cutting-edge topics in critical care useful to the entire multiprofessional team.George L. Anesi, MD, MSCE, MBE
Jonathan E. Sevransky, MD, MHS
J. Perren Cobb, MD
Laura E. Evans, MD, MSc, FCCM

Meta Tag

Content Type Article

Knowledge Area Crisis Management

Knowledge Area Administration

Knowledge Level Foundational

Knowledge Level Intermediate

Knowledge Level Advanced

Membership Level Select

Membership Level Professional

Membership Level Associate

Tag COVID-19

Tag Resource Allocation

Year 2021

Keywords

respiratory viral surge

influenza seasons

COVID-19 pandemic

hospital adaptation

hospital resiliency

SARI-PREP program

CDC Foundation

care delivery processes

hospital occupancy

bystander patients

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