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During the first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, a rapid redeployment of noncritical care healthcare staff was necessary to meet the unprecedented number of patients needing critical care. A New York health system developed a multidisciplinary simulation training program to prepare the redeployed staff for new roles in the intensive care unit (ICU). The training included courses on management of a patient with acute decompensation with COVID-19, critical care basics for the non-ICU provider, and manual proning of a mechanically ventilated patient.

Rapid response teams (RRT) are intended to improve the identification and management of clinically worsening hospitalized patients. This study identified an increase in RRT activations for respiratory distress at one academic hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors outline the hospital response, which included revising RRT guidelines to reduce in-room personnel, new decision-support pathways, which accounted for COVID-19 uncertainty, and expanded critical care consults for inpatient care team.

Missed and delayed diagnosis are a known cause of preventable adverse events. In this cohort of 107 patients with severe or critical COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, 45% developed acute kidney injury (AKI). However, nearly half of those patients (46%) were not diagnosed during their stay in the hospital. Patients with undiagnosed AKI experienced greater hospital mortality than those without AKI or diagnosed AKI. Involvement of intensive care kidney specialists is recommended to increase diagnostic awareness.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated rapid adjustments in hospital operations to address patient care demands. This commentary discusses how one hospital system utilized their quality and safety staff during the pandemic, and how that experience informed the responsiveness of system-wide quality improvement operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the ability of pharmacists to ensure medication safety. This article uses case scenarios to highlight challenges encountered due to the COVID-19 pandemic that required changes in pharmacist roles. Strategies to overcome challenges related to monitoring medications used to treat patients with COVID-19, preventing errors with laboratory reporting, and managing drug shortages are discussed.

Users of illicit substances are vulnerable to a variety of health concerns. This article discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic places illicit drug users at increased risk for COVID-19 due to their predisposition to infection and social contact; how disruptions to illicit drug supply chains increase risk for overdose due to drug substitution and; the impact of missing out on drug treatment services. The piece highlights the role of pharmacists in keeping this marginalized patient population safe.