Impact of COVID-19 on Nurses and Healthcare Systems in Florida

Impact of COVID-19 on Nurses and Healthcare Systems in Florida

For patients at high risk of COVID-19 infection (P), does continuous education via virtual communication, such as the use of telephones (I) reduce the risk of infection (O)compared to patients who do not receive continuous education (C) over a 6 weeks period (T)?

Nurses along with other healthcare workers, have been at the forefront of caring for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. While these have taken care of others, they have, in turn, put themselves and other patients coming to the healthcare facilities at risk of infection of the disease. Nurses facing challenges such as lack of PPE have had to still cater to patients and, at the same time, risk themselves and others. While states have made an effort to reduce this lack of PPEs, more needs to be done.

The COVID-19 virus is a mutating organism, and this is among the reasons why the second and third waves of the outbreak have hit nations across the globe (Dos Santos, 2021). The disease is projected to linger for a lengthy period of time, and hence, one of the best strategies that can be employed at this time is patient education alongside other containment measures (social distancing, hand sanitizing, and wearing a face mask) (Güner et al., 2020). As mentioned in previous sections of this continued proposal, nurses themselves need to have proper education on the need to keep safe and how to keep safe. Nurses also need to keep at par with the latest development of the disease and respond appropriately when handling a patient (Daniels, 2020). Additionally, keeping vulnerable patients away from high-risk areas such as the healthcare center should also be a priority (Driggin et al., 2020). However, doing so also puts the patients at risk of poor health outcomes when such patients are unable to access immediate help regarding any symptoms of COVID-19. Hence, this proposal seeks to analyze whether keeping at-risk patients for COVID-19 away from healthcare facilities while offering them continuous education virtually can reduce their risk of infection compared to when such patients come to the healthcare facility.

The healthcare systems in Florida and other states as well, have experienced an unprecedented strain with beds in units such as the HDU and ICU being occupied to capacity. Patients reporting to the healthcare facilities for non-COVID-related illness and at risk of infection are very vulnerable and can further precipitate the bed-capacity problem. The goal of the healthcare facility should be to increase the number of patient discharges and reduce exposure to risk in the healthcare facilities. While traditionally Hospital Acquired Infections were not as lethal, COVID-19 infections acquired in hospital settings can result in massive mortalities, high rates of infection among other patients and staff, and consequently, a significantly larger strain on healthcare facility resources (Hu et al., 2020). Additionally, the high number of cases reported in Florida has led to the mental and physical exhaustion of nurses. Nurses have to work for extra hours to cater to the needs of the patients. Due to the high ratio of nurses to patients, longer work shift hours must be used to ensure that most patients have been attended to (Ruiz & Gibson, 2020). The overwhelm and inability to meet the demands of all patients has led to burnout among the nursing staff (Forest et al., 2021).

Keeping vulnerable patients away from healthcare facilities is an option that will be pursued in the target healthcare facility in this research. For this to be possible, patients will need to have virtual access to the care facility at any time to ensure that they are not endangered by their current chronic conditions. Diabetic patients and those with heart diseases and of all ages will be requested to participate in the proposed project (Bansal, 2020; Singh et al., 2020). These disease conditions can be managed by the patient or the carer without the need for the patient to physically come to the healthcare facility. However, patient education will need to be implemented virtually, and so will monitoring of symptoms for current illness and for COVID-19 infection.

COVID-19 has brought about a new normal, and that is the use of digital media to communicate and work. This new normal will be put into practice by using telephone and internet communication between the patient and the nurses. Patients and their carers who frequent the hospital for doctor’s appointments will be informed of the new strategy that will be put in place. Each patient will be contacted and given information on how the new patient monitoring and follow-up procedure will take place virtually. Any questions that the patients will have will be answered through a Zoom meeting, but this is only if the questions do not appear in the PHR’s FAQ section already. Thus, the patients with common illnesses (that is, diabetes or CVD) will be requested to join a scheduled Zoom meeting, and this is where the Question and Answer session will be done. Patients will also be given all the relevant information, including how to update their PHRs regularly as well as the number to text in case they need any clarification on what to do. The Zoom meetings will be repeated three times a day for three days to ensure all persons have attended and all areas of queries are covered.

Prior to the Zoom meetings, the researcher will condense the information on how to care for oneself and what to look out for as symptoms of COVID-19 as well as other relevant information, into a booklet. The lead researcher will then request for nurses to attend a two-day training on how to use the booklet, how, when, and frequency of communicating with the patients, and ways of escalating any problems they or the patient encounter. The IT department will also be involved in ensuring that the virtual communication modes are uninterrupted. At the end of the project period, the researcher will compare the number of new cases (with pre-existing diabetes and CVD) reported and admitted at the care facility and compare these with the previous data prior to the initiation of the project.  It is expected that patient admission rates will significantly reduce during this project period. It is also expected that other benefits will be accrued, including a reduction in nurse burnout and demotivation incidences.

References

Bansal, M. (2020). Cardiovascular disease and COVID-19. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 14(3), 247-250.

Daniel, S. J. (2020). Education and the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospects, 49(1–2), 91–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-020-09464-3

Dos Santos, W. G. (2021). Impact of virus genetic variability and host immunity for the success of COVID-19 vaccines. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 111272.

Forrest, C. B., Xu, H., Thomas, L. E., Webb, L. E., Cohen, L. W., Carey, T. S., Chuang, C. H., Daraiseh, N. M., Kaushal, R., McClay, J. C., Modave, F., Nauman, E., Todd, J. V, Wallia, A., Bruno, C., Hernandez, A. F., O’Brien, E. C., & HERO Registry Research Group. (2021). Impact of the Early Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic on US Healthcare Workers: Results from the HERO Registry. Journal of General Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-06529-z

Güner, R., Hasanoğlu, İ., & Aktaş, F. (2020). COVID-19: Prevention and control measures in the community. Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences, 50(SI-1), 571–577. https://doi.org/10.3906/sag-2004-146

Hu, L. Q., Wang, J., Huang, A., Wang, D., & Wang, J. (2020). COVID-19 and improved prevention of hospital-acquired infection. British Journal of Anaesthesia, 125(3), e318-e319.

Ruiz, M. A., & Gibson, C. A. M. (2020). Emotional Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the U.S. Health Care Workers: A Gathering Storm. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12, 153–155. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000851

Singh, A. K., Gupta, R., Ghosh, A., & Misra, A. (2020). Diabetes in COVID-19: Prevalence, pathophysiology, prognosis, and practical considerations. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, 14(4), 303-310.

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Review your problem or issue and the study materials to formulate a PICOT question for your capstone project change proposal. A PICOT question starts with a designated patient population in a particular clinical area and identifies clinical problems or issues that arise from clinical care. The intervention used to address the problem must be a nursing practice intervention. Include a comparison of the nursing intervention to a patient population not currently receiving the nursing intervention, and specify the timeframe needed to implement the change process. Formulate a PICOT question using the PICOT format (provided in the assigned readings) that addresses the clinical nursing problem.

Impact of COVID-19 on Nurses and Healthcare Systems in Florida

The PICOT question will provide a framework for your capstone project change proposal.

In a paper of 500-750 words, clearly identify the clinical problem and how it can result in a positive patient outcome.

Describe the problem in the PICOT question as it relates to the following:

Evidence-based solution
Nursing intervention
Patient care
Health care agency
Nursing Practice
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

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