Two MGH Institute faculty members, Dr. Suellen Breakey of the School of Nursing and Amanda Worek of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD), provided crucial training as the coronavirus pandemic began to make an impact.
Breakey, an assistant professor of nursing, was asked by the Norman Knight Nursing Center for Clinician and Professional Development at Massachusetts General Hospital to provide basic ICU skills training for non-ICU nurses who might be redeployed to assist in treating COVID-19 patients. The hospital converted several units to ICUs to prepare for an anticipated surge in patients in the coming weeks.
Dr. Breakey is working with nurse educators from the Knight Center on Lunder 9, where training stations cover basic ICU skills including arterial pressure monitoring, general care of an intubated patient, and basic assessment of a critically ill patient. Before joining the IHP faculty, she worked in several critical care positions, most recently in cardiac surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
“I have been happy to put some of my ICU knowledge and skills to work in this small way,” said Breakey. “The nurse educators I have worked with were incredibly welcoming and the nurses who are being trained have approached this unique situation with such a positive attitude, even in the face of unprecedented uncertainty.”
She added, “It has been humbling to see firsthand how everyone on the frontlines--from the nurses, doctors, and other health professionals to the security officers and the people handing out hand sanitizer and surgical masks, to name a few--are handling this crisis with grace and humanity. The level of teamwork and collaboration is palpable.”
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Worek, an instructor of speech-language pathology, piloted last summer a telehealth clinic in the Speech, Language and Literacy Center at the Sanders IMPACT Practice Center to make opportunities available for SLP students to learn what she says is a growing therapy delivery model. Little did she know this pilot program would become instrumental when the Institute decided to move classes to a virtual platform in March.
“When the pandemic started, there was a clear and immediate need for training - not only for students but also for CSD faculty to meet state licensure requirements and prepare for how to even go about getting started in telepractice,” said Worek, who received her Master of Science in SLP from the MGH Institute in 2011.
Worek, who has practiced telehealth for several years, was asked to present to CSD faculty about what it would take to move the department’s in-house clinics online, as well as inform them on current licensure regulations. She created a Dropbox of self-guided learning materials for faculty, held online how-to trainings and virtual Q&A sessions, and organized a system to house additional documents and links to telepractice resources. She also held a three-hour lecture with first-year SLP students during a clinical seminar to prepare them for the new learning experience.
“In light of everything going on in the world right now, I’m grateful to have the knowledge and experience to help support the clinical education of our students, especially as they enter the health care field at a time when alternative service delivery has become a necessity,” said Worek.