Update from NY!

Elizabeth Maas, MSN, RN, was highlighted as a new member in May’s TONL. Elizabeth traveled from Texas to New York, working in hospitals to support care of critically ill patients suffering from COVID-19. Originally contracted for 8 weeks, she is coming home, the numbers in NY are dropping, and the hospital cancelled the contract. Liz has an amazing story to tell involving the action of heroes and the devastation of disease that extends beyond an infected COVID-19 patient. She recounts that the elderly, nursing home and homeless populations are dying at an alarming rate. From a nursing perspective, managing patient care amid the chaos has been challenging due to multi-faceted confusions and time-wasting procedures related to simple and routine care of patients – triage, transfers, med administration, etc.
 
Liz states, “despite these frustrations, this experience is one I treasure and may repeat.” In addition, she has attained new regard, high interest, and commitment to changing patient care cultures by managing and improving workflows/processes. Regarding “new workflows/processes,” Liz states, “I believe the culture can change and improve for the staff/patients in the future."
 
Submitted by: C Plonien