Rapid Deployment of Team Nursing During a Pandemic: Implementation Strategies and Lessons Learned

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Nursing
• Critical Care

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated nationwide nurse staffing shortages, particularly in intensive care units (ICUs).
• A tertiary teaching hospital faced a surge in ICU patients, intensifying existing staffing challenges.
• This necessitated innovative solutions to maintain adequate patient care and support COVID-designated units.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the implementation of a pilot team nursing program in a mixed-specialty ICU.
• To assess the program's impact on nurse staffing, workload, and operational efficiency.
• To determine the feasibility of integrating general care nurses into the ICU setting during a crisis.

Main Methods:

• A team nursing model was employed to integrate 13 general care nurses into a 21-bed ICU within 4 days.
• Specialized education and resources were developed to define roles, expectations, and communication protocols for team nurses and ICU nurses.
• An adaptive process, informed by staff feedback, was used to refine resources and address identified barriers.

Main Results:

• The 6-week pilot program successfully reduced the reliance on float nurses.
• Participating nurses reported a self-perceived decrease in workload.
• A key challenge involved charge nurses balancing staffing with workload due to an outdated model that equated general care and ICU nurse productivity.

Conclusions:

• Team nursing in the ICU is a flexible and effective strategy for managing critical staffing shortages.
• The model is readily adaptable and replicable in other healthcare facilities facing similar crises.
• Further refinement of staffing models is needed to accurately reflect diverse nursing skill sets and optimize team-based care.