The fourth month of my fellowship was different and very interesting time for healthcare workers, new and old. It was a time a lot of health care systems were changing gears in light of the COVID virus.
I remember when I got the call from my supervisor during one of my shifts towards the end of my third month to tell me that I would be redeployed for month four. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared or anxious at first... I mean -- what would I be doing while redeployed there? I remember thinking I've been lucky enough to stay in my department and to still have a job despite this *hopefully* temporary detour. It would be great to contribute what I can to the COVID response, and so, that's what it was.
I spent my fourth month of fellowship working on the employee health side. I worked with a small team of redeployed doctors, advanced practice providers, nurses, and medical assistants to set up employee COVID screening protocols and guidelines that aligned with the latest evidence, which changed rapidly and on the daily.
It was initially a different kind of chaos with no workflow in place, but the end result with all our tinkering ended with a system that was efficient, user-friendly, and up-to-date with the current guidelines recommended for COVID.
I wouldn't have thought that I, as a new graduate nurse practitioner, would be a part of such a large project in such a strange time. But it has been a good experience and I have made several new connections to different departments as a result of it!
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It was a long time coming to the end of the month. The days felt like years; but at the same time, the days seemed to move quite quickly. I'm looking forward to being back with the neurosurgery department very soon and excited to see what lies ahead while learning the spine side of neurosurgery.
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