Background New York City’s first case of SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified on 1 March 2020, prompting rapid restructuring of hospital-based services to accommodate the increasing numbers of medical admissions. Non-essential services were eliminated but in-patient treatment of psychiatric illnesses was necessarily maintained. Aims To detail the response of the NYU Langone Health in-patient psychiatric services to the COVID-19 outbreak from 1 March to 1 May 2020. Method Process improvement/quality improvement study. Results Over this time period, our two in-patient psychiatric units (57 total beds) treated 238 patients, including COVID-19-positive and -negative individuals. Testing for COVID-19 was initially limited to symptomatic patients but expanded over the 62-day time frame. In total, 122 SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were performed in 98 patients. We observed an overall rate of COVID-19 infection of 15.6% in the patients who were tested, with an asymptomatic positive rate of 13.7%. Although phased roll-out of testing impaired the ability to fully track on-unit transmission of COVID-19, 3% of cases were clearly identified as results of on-unit transmission. Conclusions Our experience indicates that, with appropriate precautions, patients in need of in-patient psychiatric admission who have COVID-19 can be safely managed. We provide suggested guidelines for COVID-19 management on in-patient psychiatric units which incorporate our own experiences as well as published recommendations.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Risk assessment, disease transmission, Phenomenology, In-patient treatment, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, Transmission, New York City, Testing, PCR, Asymptomatic, COVID-19 outbreak, COVID-19 infection, management, Patient, disease, Admission, positive rate, patients, recommendations, Admissions, Psychiatric, Frame, over, precautions, polymerase chain, Result, tested, performed, the patient, treated, indicate, suggested, individuals, illness, eliminated, Process, psychiatric service, symptomatic patient, 【제목키워드】 Transmission, psychiatry, management, asymptomatic infection,