Hospitals redeploy surgical specialists to front lines to fight COVID-19

Editor's Note

Specialists like cardiac and orthopedic surgical teams as well as anesthesiologists and cardiologists are being redeployed in hospitals to help treat the rising number of COVID-19 patients, the March 30 Modern Healthcare reports.

What used to be the heart team at Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Morningside is now a COVID-19 team. Healthcare systems like Mount Sinai Health, Providence St Joseph Health, and Henry ford Health are outlining which specialists can treat COVID-19 patients and in what capacity.

Not all physicians have the training to ventilate a patient, but they can monitor a patient who hasn’t progressed to that stage. Healthcare systems are taking inventory of who is available, what their skills are, and whether they are willing to step up.

The most obvious recruits for redeployment are those with critical care backgrounds, such as anesthesiologists and critical care intensivists. Second in line are general surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, and internal medicine subspecialists like cardiologists and oncologists.

In addition to helping in the hospital setting, healthcare systems are calling on providers to help with the COVID-19 pandemic through telehealth. Michigan-based Spectrum Health has recruited 250 providers to triage patients in this manner. Providers include physicians and advanced practitioners from various specialties including general surgery, orthopedic surgery, cardiology, neurology, and oncology.