Skip to main content
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Digital Health
    • Transformation
    • ESG
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • Newsletters
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Care Delivery
June 13, 2020 01:00 AM

Online training helps redeployed nurses get up to speed on COVID-19

Jessica Kim Cohen
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    The Project Florence training is customized to match how much critical-care experience a nurse may have.
    Sana Labs

    The Project Florence training is customized to match how much critical-care experience a nurse may have. 

    As the novel coronavirus swept across New York City in March, Mount Sinai Health System officials realized they needed more nurses to care for a growing number of COVID-19 cases.

    Mount Sinai, like many health systems, began reassigning nurses, nurse managers, nurse practitioners and certified registered nurse anesthetists from departments across the health system to work side-by-side with senior nurses and physicians specialized in critical care to treat patients with COVID-19.

    That helped to address the “rapid increase of patients that we were seeing” in intensive-care units, said Natalie Callis, senior director for nursing professional development at Mount Sinai.

    But it’s not enough to redeploy nurses to where they’re needed—nurses need specialized training to work in critical care.

    Mount Sinai filled that training gap with Project Florence, a two-day, web-based training program the health system developed with artificial intelligence and education company Sana Labs.

    Launched April 13, Project Florence is designed to help train nurses on skills specifically needed to care for COVID-19 patients. It supplements the training and mentoring from senior nurses and specialists that a nurse would receive if they had no critical-care experience.

    Project Florence targeted a core challenge: the tendency to use a one-size-fits-all approach when expanding training for large groups, said Diane Adams, chief learning officer at Mount Sinai.

    After an initial assessment, Project Florence uses AI to recommend information based on a user’s background. That helps Mount Sinai better customize the seven-module curriculum, since reassigned nurses will have different levels of critical-care experience, Adams said.

    Since Project Florence is a supplemental learning tool, it’s not required for all redeployed nurses; however, nurse managers might assign it to a nurse as part of a learning plan.

    As of mid-May, 176 Mount Sinai staff and nearly 800 people worldwide have used the program. It’s free for anyone to enroll in Project Florence, which is available to users outside of Mount Sinai, as well. Sana Labs didn’t charge Mount Sinai for developing the tool.

    Mount Sinai isn’t alone in needing to train nurses for critical care. Hospitals across the U.S. have reassigned physicians and nurses to treat COVID-19 patients in the past few months, as cases top 1.9 million and deaths surpass 111,000, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

    Online learning offers more flexibility than in-person classes, since nurses can take the course after work or during downtime on the job, said Pam Arlotto, CEO of healthcare consultancy Maestro Strategies. That can be particularly useful in areas undergoing a COVID-19 surge where hospital leaders and clinicians might not have the time or resources to develop extensive in-person training.

    Hackensack Meridian Health in Edison, N.J., reassigned more than 300 nurses in the wake of the pandemic. That included redeploying medical-surgical nurses to critical care and nurses from nonclinical roles—such as case management and population health—to support at the bedside.

    To get nurses acclimated to their new assignments, Hackensack Meridian offered nurses access to a training module from Wolters Kluwer on COVID -19 care, which included skills like mechanical ventilation, prone positioning and correct use of personal protective equipment. “Many of the nurses that were being redeployed to patient-care areas had some concerns that they had been away from the bedside for a while,” said Donna Ciufo, Hackensack Meridian’s vice president of nursing education.

    The module was optional, but Hackensack Meridian officials may switch to assigning it to help nurses prepare for a possible second surge.

    Some post-acute care facilities have also turned to technology for COVID-19 education.

    Knollwood Manor, a nursing home in Lafayette, Tenn., in April asked all staff—including nurses, but also dietary, housekeeping and laundry services staff—to complete a free web-based course from IntelyCare, a staffing company for skilled-nursing facilities and assisted-living centers. The 15-minute program offers an overview of practices for reducing transmission risks and preparing to care for COVID-19 patients.

    None of the nursing home’s residents have tested positive for COVID-19.

    The course was a convenient way to help staffers better understand some of the basics, such as the importance of isolating residents, said Flora Emberton, infection control preventionist and nurse who manages education at Knollwood Manor, especially for those who don’t deal with infection control regularly.

    Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Knollwood Manor isolates any resident who returns from a hospital for 14 days. “Before, we very seldom isolated anybody,” Emberton said.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    crowd of people
    Facing an uncertain future, industry leaders get creative with care delivery
    988 illustration
    National 988 mental health hotline back up after widespread service outage
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Digital Health
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • ESG
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • Newsletters
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing