Stepping up during the surge
Photos courtesy of Bayhealth March 02, 2022
CHS students volunteer during Omicron surge to help hospitals in crisis mode
While hospitals were the last place many people wanted to be during the COVID-19 pandemic, 91原创 junior Yasmine Awayes had been anxiously awaiting an opportunity to get inside one and start getting clinical experience.
鈥淢any hospitals told me 鈥 鈥楽orry, at this time, we can鈥檛 take any volunteers. Maybe, when COVID lightens up, you can come and help,鈥欌 she said.
At that time, hospitals had no idea just how bad the situation was going to get. With the pandemic hitting hospitals in waves, the Omicron surge struck at a time when burnout was strong, and staff members were already stretched beyond their limits.
鈥淲e were short-staffed going into the surge, so it was even worse when we started losing our own employees that were out for COVID. We were down a quarter of our staff on the laboratory side, so it was pretty crazy,鈥 said Kimberly Gillen, laboratory manager at .
For the first time throughout the two-year pandemic, some health care systems, like Bayhealth reached a breaking point and were forced to activate . and state then stepped in to ask the public for help.
91原创 College of Health Sciences students were some of the first to answer the call. Uniquely prepared to assist during this difficult moment in time, nearly 200 CHS students signed up to volunteer in a variety of areas from clinical laboratory and nursing to nutritional support, patient sitting, and clerical work. 91原创鈥檚 Medical and Molecular Sciences Department and the School of Nursing were among the most represented.
At Bayhealth, Gillen said the situation had become so dire, they were forced to deploy non-essential workers from departments like information technology to the lab. That鈥檚 when she got a dash of hope 鈥 students from CHS would be joining their team.
鈥淭hese emergency students were like a godsend,鈥 said Gillen.
As a feeling of relief washed over hospitals, students like Awayes, who aspires to be a doctor, also got her moment. She received an email from one of her faculty advisers stressing the urgent need for volunteers at Delaware hospitals. She responded immediately, and within a week, was placed inside the lab at Bayhealth Sussex in Milford.
COVID had become both the reason Awayes couldn鈥檛 get the experience she so desperately wanted and the reason she ultimately got the opportunity she鈥檇 been waiting for her entire college career.
The Medical Diagnostics major spent weeks helping lab staff by managing a flood of tests and processing samples. After her volunteer stint was finished, the Milford native offered to continue her work on the weekends.
鈥淚 want to keep helping. I鈥檝e always wanted to see what it was like working in the hospital, and this is valuable medical experience,鈥 said Awayes. 鈥淚鈥檓 hoping to learn more about diagnosing. I鈥檓 hoping they will teach me what this sample鈥檚 numbers mean or show me what鈥檚 considered normal and abnormal in test results.鈥
Nikhita Bomasamudram, a junior Applied Molecular Biology and Biotechnology major, embraced the opportunity to work in Bayhealth鈥檚 lab in Kent County during winter break. She spent time in the microbiology lab running COVID-19 tests and enjoyed the experience so much, she offered to stay on during spring semester to help on the weekends.
鈥淭hey showed me how to deal with other bodily fluids and tests for other diseases, so it鈥檚 been a good learning opportunity,鈥 said Bomasamudram. 鈥淚t did pique my interest in microbiology, especially all the different types of bacteria and how they look.鈥澛犅
When junior Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) major Kelsey Van Thuyne volunteered, she wasn鈥檛 sure what to expect. She, too, was placed in the lab at Bayhealth Hospital Kent Campus, where she processed hundreds of samples per shift for about a month. As someone who鈥檚 not interested in direct patient care, she said the experience inside the lab helped her define what she wants to do after graduation.聽聽聽
鈥淭hey operate on a different side of the patient care aspect,鈥 said Van Thuyne. 鈥淚 think everyone kind of forgets what lab scientists do, so it鈥檚 cool to see what鈥檚 going on behind the scenes. If someone gets the wrong results, it can drastically affect how they get treated鈥o I had a sense of urgency鈥t鈥檚 a really important job.鈥
While MMS students volunteered their services and expertise for free, Bayhealth paid those working in the lab $15 per hour. Gillen said it was clear the students鈥 education at 91原创 prepared them for this work. She described the students as hardworking, responsive and professional.聽聽聽聽
鈥淚 think it was great for them to see the state of affairs in health care right now and to jump in and be able to help,鈥 said Gillen. 鈥淭hey garnered our trust. It was a great, great help. They rose to the challenge; they really did an amazing job. Having a little relief was a morale booster as well as a timesaver.鈥澛犅
MMS Department Chair Esther Biswas-Fiss is proud that students from a variety of majors were up to the task.聽
鈥淚t is extremely rewarding聽to see how easily our MMS students were able to step right into the professions for which they were trained.聽I think this speaks volumes about the quality, rigor and relevance of the educational experience in our programs,鈥 said Biswas-Fiss.聽
More than a dozen 91原创 students from the School of Nursing (SON) also served clinical rotations at both Bayhealth and Beebe hospitals during the Omicron surge. For many of these students, the experience marked the first time they鈥檇 been exposed to patients with COVID-19.聽
鈥淲e were approached at almost the perfect time because January was really hitting the height of another surge, and it was a surge of patients unlike any we鈥檇 seen before on top of staffing difficulties,鈥 said Angeline Dewey, director of education at Bayhealth.聽
Olivia Miraval, a senior nursing major at 91原创, just completed her final clinical rotation before graduation, spending a month in Bayhealth Hospital鈥檚 Acuity Adaptable Unit.聽
鈥淭he last time I was in clinical, I never saw a COVID patient,鈥 she said.聽
But when she started at Bayhealth, Miraval said about a quarter to half of the patients on that floor were COVID patients. As the weeks went by, COVID cases decreased 鈥 a sign the surge was easing. She was grateful for the opportunity to get real-world experience just months before she鈥檒l become a registered nurse.聽
鈥淭o be in real time, doing the entire care process every step of the way was really nice. I feel like I鈥檝e come very far from the first day of my preceptor in my ability as a future RN,鈥 she said. 鈥淓ven with the environment now 鈥 it鈥檚 a little more stressful because of the pandemic 鈥 I still know I made the right decision. Nursing hooks you in鈥t鈥檚 very rewarding.鈥
Shannon Gibbons, a senior nursing major, participated in an emergency preceptorship at Bayhealth, working in the ICU stepdown unit to experience caring for COVID patients 鈥 a reality she and many other graduating students will soon be stepping into.聽
鈥淚 was not allowed to take care of COVID patients until this round of clinical. This is the first time I was given adequate PPE,鈥 said Gibbons. 鈥淚 know how dire the staffing situation is because I鈥檓 seeing my friends and colleagues in health care 鈥 they鈥檙e just so burned out; they鈥檙e exhausted; they鈥檙e seeing things that a lot of people couldn鈥檛 imagine. I knew I had a really special skill set, and I鈥檓 at the point in my education where I feel pretty comfortable acting autonomously but under supervision鈥攖hat I could be of help to some of these nurses.鈥
Gibbons wants to work in emergency medicine after graduation.
鈥淚t was the perfect last clinical rotation for me because I saw such a broad spectrum of things; I saw people at very different points of their disease process, and I saw very different acuities, too,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 feel like I have a much better understanding of how to take care of really complex patients.鈥澛
Dewey said the extra sets of hands, coming into the hospital before 91原创鈥檚 spring semester, provided crucial support that enabled Bayhealth to get through the Omicron surge.聽
鈥淭hey did everything鈥攖hey provided complete patient care,鈥 said Dewey. 鈥淚t just became such a win-win because we were able to teach them, provide them with that practical experience, but then the student was able to support the nurse and help take care of the patients because the nurses were taking care of extra patients.鈥澛
Sarah Stuart, a senior nursing major, was placed in the Intensive Care Unit at in Lewes, marking 91原创鈥檚 first clinical partnership in nursing with the downstate hospital.
Given its distance from Newark, to ensure the partnership鈥檚 success, Beebe paid for hotels for the students during their clinicals.聽
鈥淏eing in the ICU was definitely something that I wanted to see before graduating because we usually stick with med-surge, maternity, all the general [units], and I wanted to have the opportunity to see more critically ill patients and understand what I鈥檇 be going into graduating,鈥 said Stuart.聽
Stuart called the experience eye-opening.
鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 really cared for patients with COVID鈥o I think it鈥檚 important since no one knows when the pandemic is going away,鈥 she said. 鈥淪tarting out, I could never have imagined I鈥檇 be at the place where I am now. The education that we鈥檝e received is just so fundamentally necessary to be really good nurses. I feel 91原创 has given us that.鈥
Laura Smith, clinical nurse educator at Beebe Healthcare, facilitated on-boarding for the 14 91原创 nursing students who provided meaningful support during the surge. While all the students played a pivotal part, Smith said staff described Stuart as a stand-out.聽聽
鈥淭he staff absolutely loved her. They want her to start work tomorrow. That is a win-win on both sides. Even though you're in clinical, and you're getting your schoolwork done, it is a walking interview, and what a good feeling to walk out knowing that the staff want you back tomorrow,鈥 said Smith.聽
Both COVID and the critical nursing shortage are realities in today鈥檚 health care environment, said Elizabeth Speakman, senior associate dean of the School of Nursing.聽聽
鈥淭he 91原创 School of Nursing (SON) faculty and staff wanted to do our part in helping our community deliver the vital care needed. They worked tirelessly to bring our nursing students back early from their winter break and place them in clinical facilities up and down the state. I am so proud of the many SON faculty, staff and students who recognized this critical need and made health care delivery in Delaware a priority,鈥 said Speakman.
CHS Dean Kathleen S. Matt said community partnerships between the college and health care systems in the state during this time of tremendous need, provide not only experiential learning experiences for students, but also showcase a critical need to expand educational opportunities within CHS. 91原创 has asked the state for an additional $7.3 million to graduate more students in nursing, epidemiology, speech pathology, medical and molecular sciences, as well as other health sciences programs.
鈥淚t鈥檚 no surprise that future health care leaders from the College of Health Sciences quickly mobilized to assist hospitals. I鈥檓 proud of their endeavors to support hospitals during some of the most challenging times we鈥檝e seen to date,鈥 said Matt. 鈥淏ut we can, and we must do more. That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 important to make meaningful investments to create more opportunities to educate additional health care leaders and expand workforce pipelines and solve critical, growing health care workforce shortages. The time to act is now. If we鈥檝e learned anything from COVID, it is that we need to innovate new ways to deliver care to individuals, where they are鈥攊n their homes and in their communities.鈥
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