Leveraging Emergency Department Information Systems to Address Palliative Care Needs of ED Patients During the COVID Pandemic

Audrey J Tan; Jordan Swartz; Christine Wilkins; Corita Grudzen

doi:10.1177/10499091211042854

Leveraging Emergency Department Information Systems to Address Palliative Care Needs of ED Patients During the COVID Pandemic

Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2022 May;39(5):581-583. doi: 10.1177/10499091211042854. Epub 2021 Aug 31.

Authors

Audrey J Tan^{1

2}, Jordan Swartz¹, Christine Wilkins³, Corita Grudzen^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
² Division of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
³ Department of Social Work, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
⁴ Department of Population Health, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.

PMID: 34463145
DOI: 10.1177/10499091211042854

Abstract

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic to hospitals in New York City stressed our emergency departments (ED) with high patient volume, stresses on hospital resources and the arrival of numerous high acuity, critically ill patients. Amid this time, we sought to leverage the ED Information Systems (EDIS), to assist in connecting critically ill patients, their families, and providers in the ED with palliative care resources. We discuss 4 innovative, thoughtful solutions to assist ED providers in identifying and addressing the acute and unique palliative care needs of COVID patients.

Keywords: COVID; advance directives; clinical decision support; electronic health record; emergency medicine; palliative care.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Emergency Service, Hospital
Humans
Information Systems
Palliative Care
Pandemics*