An occupational health covid-19 remote patient monitoring program

25^th International Conference on Global Nursing Education & Research

June 16-17, 2022 | Webinar

Summer Roeschley-Park

University of Illinois,USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Abstract: The SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed the medical community in patient care volume and clinical acuity. Additionally, nonimmune healthcare workers were at increased risk in high viral load patient care environments. Patient clinical demands on the health care system concurrent with staff health risks created human resource challenges within the health care system to meet multiple responsibilities of caring for patients and healthcare employees. A large midwestern academic medical center collaborated with a College of Nursing to provide a unique remote program to employees recovering from COVID-19. Employee health status was monitored using a continuous remote monitoring platform. The monitoring team was staffed and managed by nurse practitioner (NP) clinical faculty at the affiliated university, providing opportunities for business and faculty development in clinical practice. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the remote monitoring model, the role of the NP faculty in managing the program and clinical staff recovery, describe patient outcomes, and implications for NP faculty practice. Patient outcomes were evaluated using a retrospective study model. Outcome criteria included additional care needed (i.e. primary care provider (PCP) follow-up, emergency department visit, or hospital admission), and length of stay (LOS) for hospital admissions. 154 COVID-19 positive employees enrolled in the 12-month program. Sixteen participants were sent to the emergency department (ED) by the NPs; eight were hospitalized. The average LOS was 5.65 days, compared to average COVID-19 LOS locally of 9.2 days and national LOS data of 10.2 days (Lewnard et al., 2020). Of the 165 participants, 15% needed further follow-up PCP care.