Experiences and Challenges While Managing the Inpatient Psychiatry Unit Dedicated for COVID-19 Patients

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the mental health care. Treating psychiatric patients with COVID-19 poses multiple challenges in the inpatient psychiatric setting in terms of mitigating transmission of the virus. Gracie Square Hospital, a freestanding psychiatric hospital located in New York City, devoted a unit to treating COVID-19 patients requiring inpatient psychiatric treatment. This paper describes our experiences and challenges while managing the psychiatric COVID-19 unit that may serve as a model for other health care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.