Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

6 INFECTION CONTROL 'Stay humble at the outset': 4 physicians on how COVID-19 shaped infectious disease work By Erica Carbajal A s the monkeypox outbreak evolves, hospitals are reflecting on the early days of their COVID-19 response. Globally, there have been more than 2,500 confirmed monkeypox cases as of June 17. In the U.S., there have been 113 cases across 20 states and Washington, D.C as of June 17. Amid the possibility that more hospitals will treat patients infected with the monkeypox virus, Becker's asked physician leaders the following question: How have lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic shaped your preparation and response to other infec- tious disease outbreaks? Four responses: Editor's note: Responses are lightly edited for brevity and clarity. Ohm Deshpande, MD. Vice President of Population Health and Clinical Finan- cial Services at Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health: Our coordinated systemwide COVID-19 response that began in 2020 was key to our ability to move nimbly, iterate our treatment pathways quickly in response to emerging research, and scale them across our 2,600 inpatient beds and hundreds of ambulatory sites. e effectiveness of our coordinated infrastructure was proven by the fact that COVID-19 mortality for our entire system, inclusive of our quaternary care academic center and our four small- er hospitals, was among the lowest in the nation and by far the lowest in Connecticut. Our Care Signature clinical convergence/ standardization initiative was instrumental to coordinating our clinical experts and implementing their wisdom into front-line clinical workflows. For monkeypox, and future infectious disease outbreaks, we are leveraging our Care Signature approach to ensure the most up-to-date clinical manage- ment algorithms are easily accessible at the point of care. Doing so will ensure patients are appropriately navigated, our clinicians are well supported, and that we can identify and safely and effectively manage the pa- tients and communities we serve. Soniya Gandhi, MD. Associate Chief Med- ical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs at Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles): e COVID-19 pandemic has created many important opportunities for growth that will improve our response to future infectious disease outbreaks. COVID-19 forced us to collaborate across disciplines that are oen siloed within healthcare organizations. Clinicians and operational leaders had to nimbly meet the ever-changing needs of patients and employees while working with communications professionals to share new information with these audiences. e pandemic also made it clear that healthcare organizations must be prepared to quickly meet an increased demand for services. is ability to scale up services requires a robust supply chain, a reliable pipeline for PPE and a plan to expand capacity. Lastly, our providers have become accustomed to using enhanced PPE. is familiarity should make them feel more comfortable and capable when responding to future outbreaks. Susan Kline, MD. Infectious Disease Expert at M Health Fairview and the University of Minnesota Medical School (Minneapolis): I will always remember that an emerging infectious disease could surprise us and carry a greater pandemic potential than might be apparent at the UPMC sued over COVID-19 test that canceled patient's wedding By Molly Gamble U PMC faces a lawsuit filed by a patient whose incorrect COVID-19 diagnosis resulted in the cancellation of his summer 2020 wedding, The Tribune-Review reported. Michael Martin filed suit June 21; UPMC Community Med- icine, Primary Care Partners of Monroeville UPMC and the physician assistant who reported his COVID-19 test results are named. A UPMC spokesman told The Tribune-Review the system cannot comment on pending litigation. Mr. Martin claims UPMC Community Medicine referred him to UPMC Mercy South Side for a COVID-19 test on July 22, 2020, when he called with symptoms of a 103-de- gree fever, trouble breathing and a sore throat. Mr. Martin claims he also went to the emergency room, where a rap- id test showed he had strep throat. He said he received a dose of steroids and felt better. The following day, Mr. Martin says the named physi- cian assistant called and told him he tested positive for COVID-19. He alleges that the PA instructed him to cancel his Aug. 1 wedding. He did so, losing upward of $14,000, The Tribune-Review reported. The following day, the PA allegedly called Mr. Martin back to tell him she had read the test result incorrectly and Mr. Martin didn't have COVID-19. Mr. Martin told The Tribune-Review he sued partly to re- coup some of the money he lost, but also to help ensure what happened doesn't occur again. "People don't want to own up to their responsibility that this happened," he said. "This error, she read the screen wrong. You diag- nosed me incorrectly, and it caused me this turmoil." n

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