Organization of a COVID ward, the model of the F. MiulliHospital

Background: SARS-CoV2 pandemic has led to a profound reorganization of hospitals to accommodate a large number of patients It was essential in the organization to combine both theneed to make patients and health workers safe and allow normalroutine hospitalization Materials and Methods: The F Miulli Regional General Hospitalwith about 600 beds Results: The Hospital has been literally divided in half verticallyso as to create a COVID Unit On 4 floors, 240 beds have beencreated, completely separate from the rest of the hospital, withdedicated entrances for patients, operators and suppliers Threededicated elevators have been identified The 4th and 3th floorswere dedicated to sub-intensive therapy, the first floor to intensivecare, while on the second floor there was the undressing and refreshment area with changing rooms and showers for operators The dressing procedure instead was arranged in the basementwhich was also equipped with an independent entrance Accessto the COVID area was via an external tunnel The organization ofthe 'new' hospital also included two operating rooms and a CTroom dedicated, independent and with dedicated paths Moreover,an area dedicated to obstetrics was created with a dedicated delivery room In this way patients and operators were isolated butcould enjoy the same structural standards as the rest of the hospital The action of all the staff of the health management and theengineers, meant that in a week after the pandemic began, thestructure was ready to welcome patients Conclusions: The Hospital was in full swing from March 16 to June26 the day the last patient was discharged