As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic surged in New York City, the city's public hospital system, New York City Health + Hospitals, recognized that innovative technological solutions were needed to respond to the crisis. Our health system recently transitioned to a unified enterprisewide electronic medical record across all of our hospitals. This accelerated our ability to implement a series of technological solutions to the crisis. We engaged in focused efforts to improve staff efficiency, including rapid medical screening exams for low-acuity patients, use of "SmartNotes," and improved vital sign monitoring. We standardized patient workup using specialty-specific order sets, created dashboards to give insight into enterprisewide bed availability and facilitate transfers from the hardest-hit hospitals, and improved the patient experience by using tablets to connect patients with loved ones. The technology bridged divides between different hospital systems across New York City to encourage the sharing of data and improve patient care. By rapidly expanding its use of information technology, NYC Health + Hospitals was able to respond to the COVID-19 surge and is now better positioned to work in a more integrated fashion in the future.
Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Electronic medical records; Health information technology; Health policy; Hospital quality; Intensive care units; Medical informatics; Pandemics; Patient care; Patient experience; Patient testing; quality of care; technology.