Rapid Nurse Training to Meet Surge Capacity: An Integrative Review

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice
• Healthcare Management
• Pandemic Preparedness

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic presented significant healthcare challenges, necessitating rapid adaptation in nursing practices.
• A major hurdle was the swift training of nurses in specialized areas like critical care to manage patient surges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify best practices for rapidly training registered nurses in team-based critical care nursing.
• To explore common themes and effective training modalities.

Main Methods:

• An integrative literature review was performed using the Whittemore and Knafl methodology.
• A priori search terms guided the literature search.

Main Results:

• The review included 11 articles, identifying three primary themes: communication challenges, team dynamics, and training implementation approaches.
• Effective training strategies are crucial for addressing role confusion and enhancing team collaboration.

Conclusions:

• Multidisciplinary communication and team dynamics are vital for mitigating confusion and improving care during health crises.
• Multimodal training approaches are feasible and effective for rapidly upskilling nurses for critical care during pandemics.
• Further research is needed to determine optimal training durations.