Introduction
The emergence of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed tremendous
stress on healthcare systems. While there was early recognition of the need for rapid
upscaling and sourcing for ventilatory support, the need for renal replacement therapy
(RRT) resource planning due to the high incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) was
not widely anticipated.
The nephrology division at New-York Presbyterian-Columbia University Irving Medical
Center responded to this unprecedented surge by undergoing rapid reorganization.
1
Several components that constitute care from a nephrology service needed to be tracked
in real-time, including: patient census, equipment (hemodialysis, continuous renal
replacement therapy (CRRT)), consumables (CRRT cartridges and solutions, vascular
access kits, dialysis filters), and staffing (providers, nurses, and dialysis technicians).
Data-driven tools to facilitate this reorganization became integral to ensure the
safe and equitable delivery of our services. To this end, we developed 3 novel tools:
(1) a Patient Census Tracker and Dashboard, (2) a CRRT Sharing Protocol Tracker and
Dashboard, and (3) a Therapy-Fluid Conservation Nomogram. Given the potential benefit
that these tools could have for nephrology programs faced with similar challenges,
we are making these tools open source, along with a brief description, to allow other
institutions to adopt and leverage these tools for their own services.
1
Patient Census Tracker and Dashboard
With the surge in COVID-19 admissions came a significant increase in incident nephrology
consults and growth of our consult censuses.
1
Resource planning required the ability to track patient censuses in real time to ensure
patients were evenly distributed. The high incidence and mortality among patients
with AKI requiring RRT, coupled with the expansion of non-traditional ICU spaces,
created substantial turnover and movement making it challenging to track patient volumes.
We developed a Patient Census Tracker (Figure 1
A) which analyzed our individual consult service censuses, broken down by COVID 19
status and RRT needs. This allowed for early identification of individual services
with large volumes and prompted the addition of services and led to a reorganization
of our services based largely on ICU location within the hospital. A Patient Census
Tracker Dashboard (Figure 1B) collated the data and provided a snapshot of each service
with a breakdown by COVID-19 status and RRT needs. This dashboard informed a daily
response review with precise data of census growth and projected resource needs.
Figure 1
Patient Census Tracker (A) and Dashboard (B). Each nephrology service (2 of the 6
services shown as an example) reported daily census counts by COVID status and RRT
needs (A). This populated a division-wide dashboard (B) which summarized the entire
divisional service size stratified by COVID status and RRT needs and displays historical
growth trends visually by cell color shading and graphically over time.
2
CRRT Sharing Protocol Tracker and Dashboard
At the height of the surge, the increased demand for acute dialytic therapies overwhelmed
the available CRRT resources in New York City.
2
In order to meet these needs, we adapted our CRRT program, and CRRT machines became
a shared resource amongst patients to ensure adequate renal support.3, 4, 5, 6, 7
When clinically feasible, CRRT schedules were converted to a 24-hours on / 24-hours
off shared model (actual therapy time per shift was approximately 22 hours of 48 hours,
accounting for a 2 hour downtime associated with cleaning the machine, moving it to
a new location, and priming it for the next patient; Figure 2
). Dialysate flow rates were adjusted to account for this accelerated therapy model
(Figure 3
). This approach lowered the cartridge utilization rate compared to a 12-hour protocol
and also minimized nursing burden and machine downtime associated with cleaning, moving
and re-priming the machines. This sharing protocol, however, presented a logistical
challenge given the size of our CRRT program (67 patients at the height of the surge).
1
Pairings changed due to fluctuating clinical needs of the patients, movement of patients
across geographically-distant ICUs, renal recovery, and death. We instituted a daily
RRT huddle with attendings and fellows on our ICU consult services to review RRT needs
and available resources to ensure appropriate allocation of resources. The complexity
of the task given the patient volume and logistical challenges required us to develop
a CRRT Sharing Protocol Tracker and Dashboard (Figure 2) to facilitate the most efficient
pairing between patients across different services and ICUs.
Figure 2
CRRT Sharing Protocol Tracker (A) and Dashboard (B). Patients were identified as able
to tolerate a sharing protocol (alternating days A and B) or not (solo) by broken
down by each ICU location (A). Patients who were unpaired or resources overallocated
based on their pairing and machine number were visually identified by a color change
and allowed clinicians to accurately pair these patients. This information populates
the CRRT Sharing Dashboard (B) which detailed names, ICU location, room number, and
machine number of the 2 patients in a pair which guided coordinators in charge of
physically moving the machine from one patient to the next. The dashboard allowed
for rapid visual identification of pairing opportunities (e.g. Akira and Victor in
ICU-2 can be paired since they are on alternating days).
Figure 3
Therapy-Fluid Conservation Nomogram. For a given patient weight and prescribed dose,
a total therapy-fluid volume required session was calculated and rounded up to a 5L
increment (5L therapy-fluid bags). Flow rates for patients on this sharing protocol
were determined by adjusting for a 22-hour period. The projected total delivered therapy
volume for a standard 48 hour period was adjusted for a 22 hour delivery period(standard
flow rates multiplied by 2.18 (48 hours / 22 hours = 2.18)) and rounding down to the
nearest dL/hour. This prevented partially used therapy-fluid bags from being discarded
at the end of a 22-hour treatment session.
The huddle identified RRT needs for the day by modality – CRRT, intermittent HD or
acute PD. For patients requiring CRRT, providers confirmed their current status (on
or off CRRT) and whether each patient needed to continue on their current schedule
or modify the schedule. Given the alternating day CRRT schedule, each day was designated
as either A or B and patients sharing machines were balanced between the 2 days. Machines
were assigned a numerical code which was linked to their radio-frequency ID to track
their movement and location throughout the hospital. Each patient was assigned a potential
pairing and machine number which allowed the tool to identify whether each patient
was unpaired, paired, or inappropriately allocated (e.g. 3 patients to the same machine;
Figure 2A). The number of patients requiring CRRT for that specific day was totaled
and then subtotaled by ICU location. This pairing information fed into the CRRT Sharing
Protocol Dashboard (Figure 2B) which detailed names, ICU location, room number, and
machine number of the 2 patients in a pair and guided coordinators in charge of physically
moving the machine from one patient to the next after the huddle. It also allowed
for pairing of patients based on geography and to make more efficient pairs as the
census was very dynamic (see Figure 2B for examples). Such a system allowed for hour-by-hour
changes to be centralized and tracked and facilitated resource allocation and allowed
us to maximize the number of patients this life-saving resource was available to.
1
3
Therapy-Fluid Conservation Nomogram
While the CRRT sharing protocol allowed us to maximize the number of treated patients,
it did not address the therapy-fluid (dialysate and replacement fluid) shortage. The
rapid rise in patients requiring CRRT both in New York City and across the country
led to projected national shortages. With traditional CRRT prescriptions, the number
of wasted bags from partial use was minimal, however, with the sharing protocol any
partially used bags at the end of the 22-hour session were discarded. To minimize
this waste, we developed a Therapy-Fluid Conservation Nomogram (Figure 3) to assist
providers in standardizing the default dialysate flow rates for continuous veno-venous
hemodialysis (CVVHD; use of the Sharing Protocol and Therapy-Fluid Conservation Nomogram
were developed primarily for use in CVVHD and use with other modalities should be
adapted for each institution depending on their blood flow rates and use of pre- and
post-filter dilution for convective modalities). For a given patient’s weight and
prescribed dose, a total therapy volume required per session was calculated and rounded
up to a 5L-bag increment, and this number was indicated in the CRRT order to avoid
hanging unnecessary bags at the beginning of the treatment session. Flow rates for
patients on this sharing protocol were determined by adjusting for a 22-hour period.
Standardizing flow rates allowed nurses to hang a prescribed number of bags per patient
per day and prevented wasting partially used bags at the end of a session, allowing
us to extend our vulnerable therapy-fluid supply. For example, at the peak of the
surge even 1 partially used bag per patient on the shared protocol per day would have
resulted in up to 20 bags (100L) of therapy-fluid wasted per day. Standardizing the
number of bags and flow rates in chart form also allowed us to alter the default therapy-fluid
rates depending on the projected number of days of supply when clinically safe to
do so.
Conclusion
The unprecedented surge of nephrology inpatients during the COVID-19 pandemic in New
York City required us to develop novel census- and supply-tracking and forecasting
tools. These tools allowed us to stay informed about the availability of resources
and our supply chain to ensure that patients in need of RRT had access to this form
of life support. Our tools allowed for an organized, data-driven divisional response
and facilitated the planning necessary for rapid reorganization of nephrology services
within our institution. While these tools still rely on manual entry rather than an
automatic feed from an electronic health record, it required minimal entry time for
any given provider as each service was responsible for updating the census for their
own service. These tools are complex enough to deal with the challenges of a large
program such as ours, but they are also easily adaptable for smaller nephrology programs
and we have made these tools available for general use given their adaptability and
potential to benefit consultative services at other institutions.
DOIs are be available through Academic Commons at Columbia University:
DOI for Census Tracking Tracker and Dashboard: https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-kja6-k736
DOI for CRRT Sharing Protocol Tracker and Dashboard: https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-8619-gn42
Disclosures
The authors do not report any relevant financial conflicts of interest.