Staffing and Orientation During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Abstract

This special report highlights practices that were implemented by individual facilities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some practices may be inconsistent with evidence-based practice and/or the AORN Guidelines and may be modified or obsolete by the time of publication. In addition, some practices (eg, N95 and other respirator reprocessing) have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use only in response to the pandemic.

Considerations for acute care staffing during a pandemic

“…Surgical teams can assist with procedures such as tracheotomy and thoracic tube insertion [ 64 ]. Perioperative nurses and operating room assistants can help with prone positioning and other forms of patient mobilization [ 21 ]. Acknowledge support from non-clinical staff [ 15 ].…”

“…Publications focusing solely on acute care staffing issues are limited [ [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] ]. Here we review the lessons learned from previous infectious disease outbreaks and the current COVID-19 pandemic, focusing primarily on strategies that can be used to improve acute care staffing.…”

The strategy to develop newly joined radiographers in a COVID-19 world: a curated orientation programme

“…A similar picture was painted by the perioperative educators who implemented distance learning and online meetings to support the onboarding of nurses. 16 To comply with the implementation of safe-distancing measures at the workplace, modifications had to be made from our usual pre-COVID orientation programme. Attendees were limited to a maximum permitted capacity or 50 persons, with clear physical spacing of at least 1 m apart, masks to be worn by all, and the removal of discussion/activity/lunch get-togethers amongst attendees.…”

Treinamento e qualificação dos profissionais de enfermagem do bloco cirúrgico para atendimento de pacientes infectados com Coronavírus SARS-CoV-2 em áreas externas

“…As funções de muitos membros da equipe mudaram como resultado da falta de procedimentos eletivos. Em muitos países, profissionais perioperatórios foram realocados para contribuir e fazer o que fosse necessário, como https://doi.org/10.5327/Z1414-4425202000040001 transferência temporária para unidade diferente, auxiliando colegas no posicionamento do paciente e na colocação e retirada de EPI 6 .…”

“…As qualidades que tornaram os enfermeiros perioperatórios tão essenciais para os cuidados de saúde, inovação, comunicação, flexibilidade e adaptabilidade foram ampliadas durante a resposta à COVID-19 6 .…”