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Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a rapidly expanding global pandemic. In March 2020, models forecasted imminent exhaustion of regional ventilator supply in New York (1). In response, we developed a novel ventilator sharing strategy to support two patients simultaneously with one ventilator. This report details our initial ventilator sharing experience among patients with COVID-19-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Methods This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License 4.

Lung volumes, the incidence and severity of atelectasis, and alveolar gas exchange were comparable in patients given 30% and 80% perioperative oxygen. The authors conclude that administration of 80% oxygen in the perioperative period does not worsen lung function. Therefore, patients who may benefit from generous oxygen partial pressures should not be denied supplemental perioperative oxygen for fear of causing atelectasis.

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We examined the use of abciximab-modified thrombelastography in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Modification of thrombelastography with abciximab-fab allows prediction of fibrinogen levels, despite coagulation altered by cardiac surgery. The difference of standard maximum amplitude and abciximab-modified maximum amplitude correlates with platelet function when expressed in dynes per square centimeter.

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BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged as a public health crisis that disrupted normal patterns of health care in the New York City metropolitan area. In preparation for a large influx of critically ill patients, operating rooms (ORs) at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP-Columbia) were converted into a novel intensive care unit (ICU) area, the operating room intensive care unit (ORICU). METHODS: Twenty-three ORs were converted into an 82-bed ORICU. Adaptations to the OR environment permitted the delivery of standard critical care therapies. Nonintensive-care–trained staff were educated on the basics of critical care and deployed in a hybrid staffing model. Anesthesia machines were repurposed as critical care ventilators, with accommodations to ensure reliable function and patient safety. To compare ORICU survivorship to outcomes in more traditional environments, we performed Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of all patients cared for in the ORICU, censoring data at the time of ORICU closure. We hypothesized that age, sex, and obesity may have influenced the risk of death. Thus, we estimated hazard ratios (HR) for death using Cox proportional hazard regression models with age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) as covariables and, separately, using older age (65 years and older) adjusted for sex and BMI. RESULTS: The ORICU cared for 133 patients from March 24 to May 14, 2020. Patients were transferred to the ORICU from other ICUs, inpatient wards, the emergency department, and other institutions. Patients remained in the ORICU until either transfer to another unit or death. As the hospital patient load decreased, patients were transferred out of the ORICU. This process was completed on May 14, 2020. At time of data censoring, 55 (41.4%) of patients had died. The estimated probability of survival 30 days after admission was 0.61 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52-0.69). Age was significantly associated with increased risk of mortality (HR = 1.05, 95% CI, 1.03-1.08, P < .001 for a 1-year increase in age). Patients who were ≥65 years were an estimated 3.17 times more likely to die than younger patients (95% CI, 1.78-5.63; P < .001) when adjusting for sex and BMI. CONCLUSIONS: A large number of critically ill COVID-19 patients were cared for in the ORICU, which substantially increased ICU capacity at NYP-Columbia. The estimated ORICU survival rate at 30 days was comparable to other reported rates, suggesting this was an effective approach to manage the influx of critically ill COVID-19 patients during a time of crisis.