As the saying goes, "Hindsight is 20/20." Truth be told, I had no clue as to the validity of this statement. What I did know was that in early 2019, the World Health Organization declared 2020 to be the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. Starting last January, I posted the proud banner on social media proclaiming "2020 Year of the Nurse." But 2020 would call each of us to a place far beyond our expectations, comfort zones, and anything we could've fathomed or would want to experience again. Through it all, we survived and even thrived. How? Because of something that at times is taken for granted: teamwork.
Being a senior clinical nurse, I-like many others-thought that the rising COVID-19 pandemic would be similar to those in the past. I'm not a novice when it comes to pandemics; I entered nursing in the late 1980s in New York City when AIDS was newly identified and ravaging the city. I survived not only that pandemic, but many more to follow. Honestly, I could wear a t-shirt that says, "I survived the AIDS pandemic, swine flu, Ebola, the avian flu, and everything in between."
Hearing that we were on the cusp of an unforeseen outbreak really made me feel no one way in particular. I truly didn't think twice about it. I was neither frightened nor impressed. I was one of many who believed that I had seen and experienced everything. This virus could be no worse. Little did I know that 2020 would mark the year I would learn the true meaning of teamwork.
Piedmont Rockdale Hospital, or what I affectionately refer to as The Rock, is viewed by many as a small rural hospital. We were grossly underprepared for one of the largest healthcare crises in modern history. As our hospital quickly reached its 138-bed capacity, patients with COVID-19 continued to show up at our ED doors. We were faced with tremendous fear, anxiety, and uncertainty.
A busy ED isn't uncommon, but this was different. The influx of patients required staff and leaders to think quickly and come together in a way that hadn't been done before. The emergency medical services trucks continued to show up with patients in need of care. One by one, they filled every ED pod and waiting room and, eventually, the halls. Patients needed breathing treatments, I.V. fluids and, most important, oxygen. As we filled all 16 ICU beds, we then had to figure out what we would do next.
Our facilities management team moved into action, converting an unused unit into an ICU overflow in 3 days, with five new beds to care for patients who had been waiting for hours to be admitted. It was an incredible feat. Of course, it sounds great but like all stories, there was an issue. We lacked nursing staff to care for these patients.
With the support of our leadership team and medical staff, we cancelled all nonemergent surgeries and procedures. This freed up numerous nurses from procedural areas who were then paired with an ICU nurse to provide safe, quality care to patients in need. Not only did our nursing staff jump in to assist, but our medical staff did as well.
Ironically, we didn't have an in-house intensivist at night. As the acuity of our patient population continued to rise, our anesthesiologists volunteered to work overnight covering the ICU. The staff appreciated this greatly and no doubt it had a tremendous impact on our outcomes. Having overnight coverage on the ICU prevented delays in needed intubations and assisted with our newly developed proning protocol. What a joy it was to come to work each day knowing that the treatments started during the day continued at night.
One of the steps taken to manage COVID-19 transmission in our community was the immediate suspension of all visitors within the hospital. The anxiety that this caused families can't be described in words. To improve communication and alleviate some of the stress, we designated specific times during which family members would be updated. Our house supervisors kindly volunteered to assist with making these calls each day. The supervisors would attend ICU interdisciplinary rounds, get updates from primary nurses, and then make the calls. Our supervisors truly were angels at a time when we needed them most.
During the COVID-19 crisis, we were tasked with the weighted responsibility of providing care to those in need while experiencing the uncertainty of how each day would go. There was no dress rehearsal or emergency preparedness that could've truly painted the picture of what the year would hold. Even with those obstacles, our team at The Rock stood tall and united. Rockdale County, Ga., was noted to have a COVID-19 death rate lower than the national average in August 2020. I believe that the outstanding teamwork within our four walls played a major part in those statistics.
Although odds are that we aren't completely out of the woods with COVID-19, I'm confident that whatever comes our way, we're much more equipped to handle it. As long as we keep in mind our purpose and our promise to "make a difference in every life we touch," we here at The Rock will be change-makers . If I've walked away from 2020 with just one lesson, it would be this: Superheroes don't wear tights, they wear scrubs and their superpowers are fortified when they work as a team.