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Healthcare worker safety program in a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) alternate care site: The Javits New York Medical Station experience

Part of: SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2022

Chad N. Thompson Open the ORCID record for Chad N. Thompson [Opens in a new window] ,
Christopher Mugford ,
Joel R. Merriman ,
Mark A. Chen ,
Joseph D. Hutter ,
Thomas J. Maruna ,
Wanza R. Bacon ,
Richard W. Childs ,
Rituparna Pati  and
G. Travis Clifton
...Show all authors
Chad N. Thompson
Affiliation:
US Public Health Service, Washington, DC US Food & Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland
Christopher Mugford
Affiliation:
US Public Health Service, Washington, DC US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC
Joel R. Merriman
Affiliation:
US Public Health Service, Washington, DC US Food & Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland
Mark A. Chen
Affiliation:
US Public Health Service, Washington, DC US Food & Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland
Joseph D. Hutter
Affiliation:
US Public Health Service, Washington, DC
Thomas J. Maruna
Affiliation:
US Public Health Service, Washington, DC US Food & Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland
Wanza R. Bacon
Affiliation:
US Public Health Service, Washington, DC
Richard W. Childs
Affiliation:
US Public Health Service, Washington, DC National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Rituparna Pati
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
G. Travis Clifton
Affiliation:
Department of Defense, Washington, DC
Renee M. Pazdan*
Affiliation:
US Public Health Service, Washington, DC Department of Defense, Washington, DC
*
Author for correspondence: Renee M. Pazdan, E-mail: rpazdan.md@gmail.com
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Abstract

Objective:

In March 2020, New York City became the epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States. Because healthcare facilities were overwhelmed with patients, the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was transformed into the nation’s largest alternate care site: Javits New York Medical Station (hereafter termed Javits). Protecting healthcare workers (HCWs) during a global shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in a nontraditional healthcare setting posed unique challenges. We describe components of the HCW safety program implemented at Javits.

Setting:

Javits, a large convention center transformed into a field hospital, with clinical staff from the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the US Department of Defense.

Methods:

Key strategies to ensure HCW safety included ensuring 1-way flow of traffic on and off the patient floor, developing a matrix detailing PPE required for each work activity and location, PPE extended use and reuse protocols, personnel training, and monitoring adherence to PPE donning/doffing protocols when entering or exiting the patient floor. Javits staff who reported COVID-19 symptoms were immediately isolated, monitored, and offered a severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.

Conclusions:

A well-designed and implemented HCW safety plan can minimize the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection for HCWs. The lessons learned from operating the nation’s largest COVID-19 alternate care site can be adapted to other environments during public health emergencies.

Information

Type
Original Article
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , February 2023 , pp. 268 - 276
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

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