Outside the Box and Into Thick Air: Implementation of an Exterior Mobile Pediatric Emergency Response Team for North American H1N1 (Swine) Influenza Virus in Houston, Texas

This article describes how a children’s hospital in Houston created an outdoor mobile treatment area during the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak. When fear of “swine flu” caused a surge of mostly mildly sick children, the hospital set up a covered parking lot clinic to safely screen, treat, and discharge low-risk patients. This reduced crowding inside the emergency department, lowered wait times, and helped prevent disease spread through patient separation and good ventilation. The program also reduced patients leaving without being seen. The study shows that flexible outdoor surge spaces can improve safety and patient flow during infectious disease outbreaks.