Allen Cadavero, assistant professor, and Bradi B. Granger, professor, contributed to "COVID-19: Mobilizing Quickly for a Rapid Response" in AACN Advanced Critical Care. Other authors include Mollie Kettle, Kelly Kester, Sara Floyd, Amanda Ornell, Maggie H. Meyer and Maria Carroll with Duke Heart Center at Duke University Hospital, and Jill Engel with Duke University Health System. 

Excerpt

As patients, hospitals, and the scientific community deal with the rapidly evolving effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, nurses have been called on to respond quickly and in many roles. Direct patient care is undeniably an international, national, and local priority. Yet as we deliver that care, many clinical questions arise about how we, as frontline caregivers in a time of crisis, might “do it better.” For example, evidence regarding COVID-19 indicates the importance of frequent handwashing, maintaining a safe distance from others, and avoiding touching our faces, but how are we modeling these evidence-based behaviors for patients and their families? What is the best way to provide care in accordance with the new worldwide rules and regulations regarding personal protective equipment? How are we compassionately communicating with the loved ones of patients who are hospitalized while enforcing enhanced visitation restrictions for the safety of all?

Many new approaches are emerging, from both the lay press and the scientific literature, for achieving high-quality care and communication in the context of restricted visitation. We, as nurses—some of the most trusted members of the health care team —are called on to deliver
care that reflects the best scientific evidence. Doing so involves not only living out the daily rigor of providing care but also using our skills, creativity, and ingenuity to develop ideas for clinical inquiry, to study what we are doing and how we are doing it, and to determine in the midst of a crisis how to measure the care we provide in order to make it even better.

The purpose of this column is to describe the planning and implementation of one such initiative and to share how thinking quickly and accessing critical resources can together produce strong clinical inquiry, even in times of duress.