• Sigal Israilov, Mona Krouss, Milana Zaurova, Hillary S Jalon, Georgia Conley, Pavel Shulman, Marina Ivanyuk, Elizabeth Jalkut, Carla Saladini-Aponte, Haseen Sharma-Cooper, Robert Smeltz, Robert T Faillace, Eric K Wei, and Hyung J Cho.
• Department of Quality and Safety, NYC Health and Hospitals, New York, New York, USA; Department of Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2020 Aug 1; 60 (2): e14-e17.

AbstractThe coronavirus disease 2019 surge in New York City created an increased demand for palliative care (PC) services. In staff-limited settings such as safety net systems, and amid growing reports of health care worker illness, leveraging help from less-affected areas around the country may provide an untapped source of support. A national social media outreach effort recruited 413 telepalliative medicine volunteers (TPMVs). After expedited credentialing and onboarding of 67 TPMVs, a two-week pilot was initiated in partnership with five public health hospitals without any previous existing telehealth structure. The volunteers completed 109 PC consults in the pilot period. Survey feedback from TPMVs and on-site PC providers was largely positive, with areas of improvement identified around electronic health record navigation and continuity of care. This was a successful, proof of concept, and quality improvement initiative leveraging TPMVs from across the nation for a PC pandemic response in a safety net system.Copyright © 2020 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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