Introduction:
Early in the COVID-19 crisis, a large Southwestern utility company reached out to surrounding education and research partners for help. Their community of employees are essential to the power supply for a significant portion of the southwestern US, positioning them at the center of this newly formed community of care. An interprofessional team from nursing, laboratory science, environmental health and safety, IT support, security, and site operations quickly mobilized to design and deliver drive-through testing to mitigate the spread of illness throughout this high-risk community. Testing locations ranged from metropolitan areas to remote lands in a Native Nation that has become a viral hotspot. This presentation will share a series of tools rooted in interprofessional communication competencies that enable rapid cycle teaming to meet the community needs.
Methods:
When work began, there was no playbook for how a team should perform mobile testing. A series of tools were developed for use at all clinical sites. These included: PPE donning and doffing routines; Hand signals to communicate with utility employees and volunteers; Interprofessional staffing rosters; Scripts for training and site setup.
These tools ensured that each new interprofessional team was prepared to perform prescriptive and discipline-specific tasks safely and with zero tolerance for error.
Outcomes:
Over a period of five weeks, 20 testing shifts were conducted across six sites, each with a unique roster of interprofessional personnel. During the project, a diverse team from nursing, laboratory science, environmental health and safety, IT support, security, and site operations personnel completed almost 2000 nasopharyngeal swabs. The tools developed for this partnership allowed for the successful transition of control to individual sites, with dedicated personnel trained in the established procedures. At the conclusion, these teams are still following the original protocols for non-verbal communication, PPE, staffing, and training.
Disclosures:
In accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education’s Standards for Commercial Support, adopted by the Joint Accreditors for Interprofessional Continuing Education, the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education has a conflict of interest policy that requires that all individuals involved in the development of activity content disclose their relevant financial relationships with commercial interests. All potential conflicts of interest that arise based upon these financial relationships are resolved prior to the educational activity.
Liz Harrell, Chris Riley, Tammy Wilson, Joe Peterson, Jorge Lomas, Dan Williams, Candace Stillman, Heidi Sanborn, Natalie Heywood, Brooke Salzman, Amy Cunningham, Ashely Crowl, Stephen Jernigan, Laurel Witt
declare no vested interest in or affiliation with any commercial interest offering financial support for this interprofessional continuing education activity, or any affiliation with a commercial interest whose philosophy could potentially bias their presentation.
