Covid-19 is placing extraordinary strain on health care organizations, even compared to the surges we saw earlier this year. Previously, much of the strain was due to PPE and ventilator shortages. Now, more and more organizations are facing unprecedented staffing challenges, particularly among nurses, physicians, and respiratory therapists. With access to contract labor increasingly limited, clinical leadership teams are evaluating all options to sustain operations while responding to continued Covid-19 pressures.

Starts today: 2021's biggest health care trends, previewed

Listed below are Advisory Board resources that we have inventoried or developed over the past few months to assist with maximizing operational capacity. Many of you may have seen some of these resources already.  However, to help you, we have pulled everything together into one list for you and your teams to review. Beyond many examples of interdisciplinary staffing models, PPE considerations, emotional support, HR policies, and cross-site floating strategies, we have also included several resources regarding how to offload acute care volumes through partnerships with post-acute and expanded telehealth. 

We will continue to highlight more strategies as we learn more. In the meantime, please email us at NEC@advisory.com with questions or suggestions.

Leverage telehealth to avoid unnecessary care utilization

Throughout the epidemic, telehealth has enabled providers to create capacity and ensure continuity of care for non-emergent patients, while providing a high-quality patient experience.

• Blog: 3 ways to ramp up telehealth to deal with Covid-19
• Cheat sheet: 3 imperatives to leverage telehealth against Covid-19
• Guide: How to Talk to Physicians about Telehealth
• Infographic: Tips to improve your 'webside manner'
• Q&A: What it's like to deliver care—and empathy—to Covid-19 patients via telehealth
• Starter list: How to bridge the 'digital divide'

Adopt staffing models to increase acute care capacity

Several hospitals have adopted new care models that scale key expertise to increase Covid-19 acute capacity.

• Blog: Key actions CNOs should take now to staff for a Covid-19 surge
• Profile: How Baylor Scott & White Health restructured its care team model to prepare for the Covid-19 surge 
• Q&A: How Ascension mobilized nearly 10,000 nurses for Covid-19—in less than 2 weeks
• Profile: How Montefiore stood up an ICU command center for Covid-19—in just 2 weeks 
• Profile: The 4 keys to Gundersen's plan to redeploy clinicians for Covid-19

Leverage post-acute operations to increase acute care capacity

Rethink your post-acute care strategy to safely and effectively discharge inpatients and create acute care capacity.

• Insight: Hospital discharge strategy during Covid-19
• Resource: The SNF Infection Control Guide
• Guide: 4 barriers to advance care planning during Covid-19—and how nursing homes can overcome them
• Guide: 4 ways you can support Covid-19 patients—after they're discharged

See examples of how UW Medicine, Ochsner Health, Spaulding Hospital Cambridge, and WellSpan Health leveraged—and in some cases created—post-acute care to meet surge demand.

Support staff well-being

Frontline staff are being pushed to the physical and emotional brink, including: working longer hours under more strenuous conditions, cross training and caring for patients in new ways, and dealing with an increasing concern for safety. Organizations must double down on support for staff, particularly during this winter surge.

• Insight: Bolster employee engagement amid Covid-19
• Round up: Picklist of emotional support options
• Resource: How to provide emotional supports for your workforce
• Profile: 'Moral Resilience Rounds': Johns Hopkins' secret to help staff navigate moral distress
• Profile: How UCSF created an app to monitor staff for Covid-19—and support their mental health
• Blog: 3 ways health care executives can build a more inclusive culture
• Blog: 5 conversations to help your team navigate a crisis

Ensure you're meeting staff's PPE needs

Staff need to know they have the proper equipment to safely care for patients. But as resources grow scarce you may need creative solutions to source and ration PPE—and how to talk about it with your staff.

• Round up: When desperation breeds creativity: How hospitals are conserving, reusing—and even replacing—their PPE
• Blog: Running short on PPE? Contact these 9 types of local businesses now.
• Insight: You may not have enough ventilators for the Covid-19 surge. Here are 4 ways to get ready.
• Insight: How to talk to staff about PPE shortages
• Guide: A 6-step guide to talking with Covid-19 patients about ventilators and resuscitation