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