INNOVATION
RUNNING TOWARD A CRISIS: CRITICAL CARE TEAM ADAPTS DURING COVID-19
Critical care medicine physicians and nurses at Houston Methodist have always cared for the sickest patients across the academic medical center’s eight hospitals. However, the intensity of COVID-19 expanded their focus well beyond emergency rooms and intensive care units. “We started with 130 ICU beds on the main campus, and that grew to 180 ICU beds in a matter of months,” says Dr. Faisal Masud, the Mary A. and M. Samuel Daffin, Sr. Centennial Chair in Anesthesia and Critical Care and medical director of the Center for Critical Care at Houston Methodist. “Despite all the challenges, our doctors
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Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation
and nurses have run toward the crisis. They have volunteered for extra shifts, cared for patients like family, cried tears of exhaustion, cheered when patients recovered, and demonstrated the best of humanity. I feel so blessed to work in this place.” Because COVID-19 patients require more isolation-safety protocols, critical care medicine staff prioritized advancing technological innovations early in the pandemic. Generous contributions from individual donors and corporate support from Reliant and Chevron helped spur the development and implementation of an arsenal of coronavirus-fighting interventions.
“COVID-19 amplified the need for fresh ideas, innovative treatment options and new communication methods,” Dr. Masud says. He and his team helped create aerosol design shields for health care workers, helmets that allow patients to avoid intubation, a virtual ICU that centrally coordinates 24/7 patient care and a digital platform called CareSense that provides follow-up communication for patients well beyond the hospital door. To expand opportunities for more creative advancements, the physicianscientists of the Center for Critical Care are partnering with engineering medicine (EnMed) “physicianeers”
