With a rapid influx of COVID-19 patients, new hospital personal protective equipment (PPE) guidelines, and a large volume of staff needing PPE training, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's (HUP) Nursing Professional Development Specialists (NPDS) were called to action to organize and facilitate hospital-wide PPE training.
The goals of the PPE training sessions are to educate and train frontline employees on the PPE resources available, processes for managing donning/doffing PPE, and safe PPE utilization. To achieve these goals, the NPDS team has worked with an interprofessional group, including Nursing Leadership, Physician Leadership, Security Leadership, Safety Management, Infection Control, and a PPE Subject Matter Expert (SME) team consisting of a group of clinical nurse PPE experts. The stakeholders collaborated with the NPDS team to determine the PPE training session content, training delivery method, target training audience, and PPE training session communication strategy.
To date, a total of 100 in-person COVID-19 PPE training sessions have been offered over the course of several weeks (class size has been limited to comply with social distancing guidelines). The training sessions include a review of HUP PPE resources, PPE utilization guidelines, a demonstration of the PPE donning and doffing process, and end with a question-and-answer session. The PPE training sessions are facilitated by a member of the NPDS team along with a PPE SME. Over 425 HUP employees have been trained in these sessions from various departments, including Nursing (Leadership, Charge Nurses, Clinical Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants), Providers (Advanced Practice Providers, Residents, Fellows), Phlebotomy, Infection Prevention, and Security. In addition, the PPE SME team provides just-in-time shoulder-to-shoulder training to frontline employees, as well as real-time PPE guidance as questions arise surrounding situations with transport, procedures, and emergencies with COVID-19 patients.
As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, the HUP NPDS team remains agile in their response to the rapidly changing needs of PPE utilization at HUP. Collaboration between nursing practice and operations is integral in keeping the PPE training facilitators up-to-date on the most current hospital PPE guidelines. Communication between Hospital Department Directors and the NPDS team is essential to assess the PPE training needs and to determine the appropriate PPE training session audience. Partnership between the SME team and NPDS facilitators is vital to continually assess and address the frontline staff PPE needs and knowledge gaps in the PPE training sessions and through broader communications.
The interprofessional collaborative partnerships and the use of nimble learning in response to rapid change have resulted in the delivery of an optimal PPE training strategy to frontline HUP employees during the COVID-19 crisis.