Becker's Hospital Review

61 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY Philadelphia hospital investigating why bodies were moved to morgue in pickup truck By Anuja Vaidya P hiladelphia-based Einstein Medical Center is investigating why corpses were taken to the medical examiner's office in a pickup truck April 19, according to Philly Voice. A photographer from e Philadelphia Inquirer said he saw five or six bodies being moved. e bodies were stacked on top of each other and moved from the hospital to the medical examiner's office, about 11 miles away, the photographer said. It is not known if the bodies were COVID-19 victims. e hospital has contracts with funeral homes to en- sure proper transfer of bodies to the city morgue, and it is not clear why those established protocols were broken, Philly Voice reported. e medical examiner's office confirmed a transfer of human remains from a local hospital had arrived in "an unapproved manner," according to the Inquirer. An Einstein Medical Center spokesperson told the publication that the hospital is conducting an inves- tigation along with the medical examiner's office, and once it has concluded, "there will be swi and corrective action." "While the COVID-19 pandemic has created unprec- edented healthcare challenges, all patients should be treated with respect and dignity at every stage, and this should never happen," the spokesperson said. Philadelphia officials condemned the incident, with a health department spokesperson telling Philly Voice that officials were "appalled" by the manner in which the bodies were transferred. During a news briefing April 21, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said that the incident was "extremely distressing." "When we talked about fatality management, one of the things I said to all people running our depart- ments is I wanted people to be treated with dignity," he said. "ey're human beings, they're family members of people. at is unconscionable what happened." Mr. Kenney said that the medical examiner's office had a "stern" conversation with Einstein Medical Center. n Social distancing may be needed through 2022, Harvard researchers say By Mackenzie Bean S ocial-distancing measures for COVID-19 may need to continue through 2022, according to April projections from Harvard re- searchers published in Science. Researchers from Boston-based Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health used mathematical modeling to predict various scenarios for the pandemic. The researchers projected that the SARS-CoV-2 virus will return ev- ery winter, prompting more outbreaks after the initial pandemic wave ends. Prolonged social-distancing strategies could help limit the strain on healthcare systems and make quarantine and contact-tracing a fea- sible response strategy. "Intermittent distancing may be required into 2022 unless critical care capacity is increased substantially or a treatment or vaccine becomes available," the researchers said. They acknowledged that even intermittent social distancing will have pro- found economic, social and educational consequences. Even after the "ap- parent elimination" of COVID-19, viral surveillance should continue through as late as 2024 to prevent an outbreak resurgence, researchers said. The researchers said their modeling should not be taken as an en- dorsement of certain response policies, but instead be used to identify helpful interventions and spur new ideas to achieve long-term control of the pandemic. n Don't intubate too soon, NYC physician warns By Mackenzie Bean M any physicians are starting to share clinical insights they learned while working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, reported The New York Times. Their insights into how they adapted care systems and clinical practic- es could offer valuable lessons for hospitals in states where COVID-19 has yet to peak. Nicholas Caputo, MD, an emergency medicine physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, said the most important lesson he wished he and other physicians knew in early March was to not jump to intu- bation too quickly. Instead of immediately sedating patients with low oxygen levels and placing them on a ventilator, many New York City physicians are using other techniques to boost oxygen levels while patients are conscious. This includes a practice called proning, in which patients roll to their side or stomachs while receiving oxygen to open up their lungs. Other physicians are using repurposed CPAP machines to increase ox- ygen levels or special pregnancy mattresses, which includes a cutout for their bellies, to ease the pressure on COVID-19 patients' stomachs and chests. n

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