The Role of Hospitalists in Biocontainment Units: A Perspective

Most RESPCTs BCUs are staffed by a self-selected group of core providers with expertise in infectious diseases (ID) and critical care (CC). Teams are interdisciplinary and committed to a culture of safety.^4-7 ID physicians are experts in HISP disease processes and epidemiology, which enables expert guidance on patient care and infection control. CC physicians are trained to provide care to patients requiring life-saving interventions.

As specialized units are shifting to include high-risk infectious diseases beyond Ebola, hospitals are developing innovative ways to manage a potential surge of patients with respiratory pathogens, expanding care far beyond the biocontainment unit. With the potential for an influx of HISPs in the healthcare setting, identifying stakeholders uniquely equipped to provide care in all areas of the hospital is ideal. At DHHA, the BCU physician staffing model transitioned from ID and CC physicians to a selected group of ten hospitalists as the primary managing service in 2018.

When DHHA received the RESPTC nomination, it developed a fully voluntary multidisciplinary high-risk infection team (HITeam; Table) with specialized training in personal protective equipment (PPE) donning and doffing, as well as BCU protocols. Our HITeam members participate in every-6-weeks mandatory team drills that involve practicing team dynamics and dexterity while wearing PPE. Team members participate in regular hospital and/or BCU-focused exercises to simulate and practice real-world experiences. They also participate in HISP Journal Club, where members from different disciplines discuss pertinent articles in the field, as well as every-other-month team-building meetings. Our unit’s main challenges included maintaining competencies and staff retention. We developed a unique staffing model aimed at mitigating some of these challenges through a multidisciplinary team approach utilizing different levels of physician involvement. The first group comprises physicians providing primary, direct care to patients, which which consists our specially trained group of 10 hospitalists—including 2 pediatricians, as well as 3 CC and 4 ID consultants. The second group involves consultants from specialties such as nephrology, anesthesia, general surgery, radiology and gynecology; just–in-time training is available for them.

Hospitalists are uniquely positioned to care for this distinctive set of patients because they are comfortable with the care of acutely ill patients, many maintain bedside procedural skills, and many have acquired point-of-care-ultrasonography (POCUS) skills. Furthermore, hospitalists usually outnumber available specialists who may be needed to maintain consultative and critical care services for non-BCU patients. We were able to develop a feasible physician staffing model, as described below, and validate hospital medicine’s commitment in addressing institutional needs.

In order to provide ideal unit coverage, 2 hospitalists are scheduled daily and available to respond in case of unit activation. BCU hospitalists are scheduled to cover the BCU when already scheduled to work a clinical shift. In the very infrequent event of BCU activation, BCU hospitalists would move their clinical work to the BCU and a back-up hospitalist would be called in to cover the “other” clinical shift; by overlapping coverage, we ensure BCU hospitalists’ work-life balance and job satisfaction remain intact. Because of expected postexposure monitoring, individual physician’s planned international travel is considered while generating the call schedule. When the unit is activated, the hospital provides payment for extra hours worked by both the BCU hospitalist and the back-up hospitalist, with anticipated revenue recapture through critical care billing by the BCU hospitalist. There are 10 HITeam hospitalists, who are trained and credentialed in bedside procedures and with different levels of POCUS expertise (from literacy to expert level). Team members are expected to attend training in bedside procedures while in PPE 2 times a year. The hospital also provides financial support for hospitalists seeking to further their BCU-related skills and training. It is anticipated that hospitalists will require consultative services from CC and ID in some selected cases to provide a well-rounded care approach to the biocontained patient.