In preparation for a potential surge in COVID-19 cases, staff at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics are going through extra training.
“I think we’re concerned every day,” Lou Ann Montgomery, a registered nurse and the director of nursing professional development for the hospital, tells KCRG-TV 9. “It’s just good planning to be concerned and to make sure that we’re ready.”
Montgomery says handling the pandemic has been unparalleled compared to other emergency situations in years past.
“Looking at the numbers, I think they’re concerning,” Montgomery says. “And with bringing school back live, that’s another concern everybody has in the entire country.”
Montgomery is helping with new training for all staff, whether new or experienced. With COVID-19 cases increasing, the hospital is preparing for a potential surge. That means some of the staff are getting extra work by learning how to perform on the front lines of a COVID-19 unit.
“So that they could be partnered with a nurse that they could be working with in the future, and be able to have some experience with caring for those patients with another resource present,” Montgomery tells KCRG-TV 9.
She says about a third of the nursing staff were cross-trained in new practices both online and in a more hands-on approach in person.
“With skills labs that we could practice hands-on skills and also run some simulation activities to give people a taste for what it might be like to care for a certain type of patient,” Montgomery says.
(Photo: KCRG-TV 9)