• Olusegun Apoeso, Caitlyn Kuwata, Suzanne L Goldhirsch, Natasha Piracha, Amy Reyes-Arnaldy, Jose De Leon, and Emily Chai.
• The Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
• J Palliat Med. 2021 Apr 1; 24 (4): 574-579.

Abstract Background: Palliative care seeks to support the physical, psycho-social and spiritual needs of patients and families who are facing life threatening diseases. Advantages of establishing a palliative care unit, or alternatively co-locating patients, include promoting optimal physical and psychological symptom management; increased family satisfaction; and facilitating resource allocation. Objective: To design a stand-alone hospital unit to provide end of life care during a pandemic. Setting: Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH), a 1,144 bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai. Method: Tracking key indicators signaling the need for conversion to a COVID-19 unit, and identifying factors to facilitate a successful conversion. Result/Implementation: Using previously identified key focused action categories as framework, we describe our successful palliative care unit (PCU) conversion into a COVID-19 care unit. Conclusion: We believe that these operational insights gained from transforming our unit during COVID-19 will be helpful to other programs and institutions during a pandemic, or public health emergencies.

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