Published
2022-05-24
Section
Articles
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Copyright (c) 2022 Yu Jin Kang, Karen Monsen, Betsy Jeppesen, Candy Hanson, Kathie Nichols, Kelly O'Neill, Jennifer Lundblad
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How to Cite
Interprofessional Roles and Collaborations to Address COVID-19 Pandemic Challenges in Nursing Homes
Yu Jin Kang
Emory University
Karen Monsen
School of Nursing, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Betsy Jeppesen
Stratis Health, Bloomington, MN
Candy Hanson
Stratis Health, Bloomington, MN
Kathie Nichols
Stratis Health, Bloomington, MN
Kelly O'Neill
Stratis Health, Bloomington, MN
Jennifer Lundblad
Stratis Health, Bloomington, MN
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/ijps.v9i1.4644
Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic, Interprofessional and multidisciplinary partnership, Nursing home, The Omaha System
Abstract
Nursing home experts and informatics nurses collaborated to develop guidelines for nursing homes that revealed partnership principles in action during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article describes efforts to define interprofessional nursing home staff roles within the partnership-based COVID-19 Response Guideline, and to examine changes in nursing practice compared to the pre-pandemic practice of nurses. The qualitative process of identification of nursing home staff roles revealed the extensive scope of interprofessional partnership needed to respond to the pandemic. Using the Omaha System structure, we compared these collective COVID-19 response interventions of Nursing Service roles with nursing interventions of RNs and LPN/LVNs defined in previous nursing home studies. This comparison showed the necessary transformation and collaboration among nurses needed for the pandemic response in nursing homes. The Omaha System Pandemic Guideline is available online and in the Omaha System Guidelines app for immediate use as COVID-19 response practice guidelines and references for interprofessional roles in nursing homes, as well as for multidisciplinary roles across diverse care settings. The guideline is an exemplar of how informatics can facilitate interprofessional and multidisciplinary partnership for nursing homes and other care settings. Future use of the guidelines for decision making and documentation related to infection prevention and control in nursing homes may improve care quality and health outcomes of residents and population.
