Introduction: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the largest employers in the state requested support from a University in the Southwest United States to create a drive-through COVID-19 testing process for their essential employees, A novel interprofessional team emerged within 24 hours. Members included nursing, laboratory scientists, supply logistics, security, traffic control, information technology, and occupational and environmental health.
Methods: Four inaugural team members unknown to one another, met on a Sunday morning to walk the premise and create the process. With common purpose to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus, the team verbally recognized the value and expertise of each individual that was essential to the work of the team. While the nurse was the only clinical member, all team members embraced this sacred work to impact the health of our community.
Outcomes: The drive-through process was implemented 72 hours following the initial meeting and proved to be a safe, effective, efficient, timely, and client centered process. Additional clinicians and support personnel were added as number of requested tests were performed. Daily pre-brief and de-brief sessions confirmed respect for all through equal voice, realizing everyone’s contribution added to the greater good. The same team replicated the testing procedure in three different sites that continue to provide testing, with further expansion to serve vulnerable and native populations. Graduate and undergraduate students were were mentored to participate in this public health experience.
Conclusion: A core competency of interprofessional practice is to advance health through respect of individual roles and responsibilities. This public health model in time of a pandemic serves as an exemplar for bringing an unexpected group of individuals with common purpose and diverse expertise form an exceptional interprofessional team.
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.
Katherine Kenny, Stephanie Kiser, Tamarie Macon, Bryan Hodge, Rachel Bemis, Kathryn Neil, Joseph Sanford, Kevin Sexton, Colleen Reiner, Haru Okuda, Philip Wortham
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.
