Nursing administrators should consider EI characteristics when hiring NMs and lead efforts to advance education to align with organization needs for business and strategic essentials necessary for NM effectiveness.
AIM
To identify strategies that increase hospital bed capacity, material resources, and available nurse staffing during a national pandemic.
BACKGROUND
The COVID-19 outbreak resulted in an influx of acutely ill patients requiring critical care. The volume and acuity of this patient population increased the demand for care and stretched hospitals beyond their capacity. While increasing hospital bed capacity and material resources are crucial, healthcare systems have noted one of the greatest limitations to rapid expansion has been the number of available medical personnel, particularly those trained in emergency and critical care nursing.
EVALUATION
Program evaluation occurred on a daily basis with hospital throughput, focusing on logistics including our ability to expand bed volume, resource utilization, and the ability to meet staffing needs.
CONCLUSION
This article describes how a quaternary care hospital in New York City prepared for the COVID-19 surge in patients by maximizing and shifting nursing resources to its most impacted services, the emergency department (ED) and the intensive care units (ICUs). A tier-based staffing model and rapid training were operationalized to address nurse-staffing shortages in the ICU and ED, identifying key factors for swift deployment.
IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGERS
Frequent communication between staff and leaders improves teamwork and builds trust and buy-in during normal operations and particularly in times of crisis.
Effective responses to the COVID-19 pandemic required interdisciplinary collaboration at the direct patient care and leadership levels. This article describes nursing leadership contributions to the COVID-19 response in an eight-hospital health system in New York City, the United States epicenter of the pandemic.
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