COVID-19 Clinical Rounds Special Session. Innovative PPE Preservation Strategies. A Peer to Peer Virtual Community of Practice

This ECHO session on innovative personal protective equipment (PPE) preservation strategies featured Dr. Gopi Patel (minute 9:20) from the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Dr. James Lawler (minute 28:30) from the Global Center for Health Security and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). Dr. Patel (slides https://app.box.com/s/t2hmd6xsm10fl16yvpt33pzyqmw4tw1h *) discussed how Mount Sinai Hospital preserved PPE as they faced a surge of patients. These actions helped flatten the epidemic curve, as they took steps to remain in contingency standards and prevent the shift to crisis standards. In spite of the hospital having pandemic planning, stockpiles of pandemic supplies (including N95 respirators), and lessons learned from other infectious diseases, they still were faced with a situation that required daily reassessment and new practices to care for patients and maintain staff safety. Dr. Lawler (slides https://app.box.com/s/oqd0823vgt529e34cy7l4ovba8io3qk7 *) discussed the experience at UNMC with reuse and decontamination of PPE.