Table 1.

Difference in characteristics of traditional and expanded intensive care units

	Traditional ICUs	Expanded ICUs
Original	ICUs	General wards or ICUs not for adult mechanically ventilated patients
Total number of departments during time interval of study	35	92
Total number of patients during study time interval	1,067	899
ICU type	Closed ICU system
Assigned physicians	Residents and fellows supervised physicians in critical care or cardiology department
Nurse to patient ratio	1:2 for 24 h
Predominant assignment of nurses	Nurses traditionally working in ICUs	Nurses who do not often work in ICUs
Proportion (%) of mechanically ventilated patients among total admitted patients in December 2019 in each department*	35	1
Max ICU capacity	Limited (fixed number)	Flexible (up to the max capacity of the general ward)

Definition of abbreviations: COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019; ICU = intensive care unit.

^*It was used as a surrogate for experience with treating mechanically ventilated patients before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.