From the Frontlines: A Clinician Brings Hope to New York City

In a recent installment of From the Frontlines, a nationwide gathering of clinicians to discuss topics at the forefront of the practice of medicine, anesthesiologist Daniel Battaglia, DO, shared his experience traveling to Brooklyn, New York, to assist in response to COVID-19. While there, he saw how clinicians were rising to the challenges of the virus. With limited capacity and resources, clinicians have been forced to adapt in real-time to improve patient care, clinical best practices and clinician and patient safety.

Dr. Battaglia, who regularly practices in Florida, found in Brooklyn a city and population that had changed entirely. Outs ide, the typically bustling streets were empty. The difference was noticeable even from 30,000 feet up as he flew into LaGuardia Airport.

Inside the hospital, the situation was completely different. Capacity was near its limit, and intensive care unit patients were spread across the hospit al. With patient conditions changing rapidly, teams needed to assimilate quickly and remain agile in the care they provided.

On his first day, Dr. Battaglia intubated nearly a dozen patients during a 12-hour shift. As the supporting physicians and advanced practice providers arrived, they brought with them experience, hope and relief.

“When we arrived, a lot of the nurses and physicians were feeling a sense of helplessness – that there wasn’t any light at the end of the tunnel, that there wasn’t any improvement possible,” Dr. Battaglia said.

“Our first goal was to get them to buy into what we were trying to achieve. There was a lot of emotional support needed to let them know that someone was there for them.” – Daniel Battaglia, DO

Dr. Battaglia leaned on his experience working with Operation Smile to effectively provide care with limited resources. Operation Smile is an international organization that brings surgeons, pediatricians, anesthesiologists and other medical professionals together to treat children born with cleft conditions.

In more than 20 years of more than 30 missions, Dr. Battaglia has witnessed the power of medicine in bringing hope across the globe. While he didn’t expect to use those skills in New York City, he says they have enabled him to become more agile and to focus on the most basic aspects of clinical care.

Dr. Battaglia is one of the many Envision clinicians across the nation going above and beyond to answer the call to provide high-quality patient care and to support our hospital partners and communities. We thank him for all he has done.

From the Frontlines is a bi-weekly teleconference panel of multispecialty clinicians nationwide who speak from the frontlines and discuss the evolving best practices as they address the COVID-19 pandemic. Visit www.evhc.net/coronavirus to watch past webinars and learn more about our work on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a leading national medical group, Envision brings clinicians together to offer transformative patient care and hospital practices. Our strength is in the shared expertise of thousands of clinicians across the country, each with a unique story and thoughtful understanding of medical practices.