Collaboration in Crisis Builds Foundation for the Future
In 2022, the Pediatric Emergency Department was recognized with the Johns Hopkins Clinical Collaboration and Teamwork Award highlighting their efforts to incorporate shared decision-making and foster cooperation and open communication with their colleagues. Read about the award here.
Although treating adults directly wasn’t in the pediatric nurses’ scope of practice, they were more than able to help the adult nurses complete basic, daily nursing tasks. “There was some unease with going into the COVID units,” said Karen, “but that didn’t stop anyone. We were still ready to help. Our doctors and PCPs joined us too, so it was a whole unit collaboration to help the frontlines wherever the need was.”
With the pediatric nurses handling the rote work, the adult nurses had more capacity for heavier cases that needed their specialization. This cross-departmental teamwork laid the foundation for improved crisis response and collaboration and has since helped to bridge the gap between the pediatric and adult emergency department teams.
“An awful RSV surge happened two years later in the fall of 2022,” said Karen. “The pediatric emergency department typically has about 50 to 60 patients a day, but we were seeing nearly 120 in the thick of it. The sheer volume was paralyzing, but everyone came together to assist us. We had nurses and providers from the adult ER to the NICU to the Maternal-Child Unit on the floor. There were medical surgery nurses in the unit next to staff from the environmental services and facilities departments. Our experience with COVID really opened the door in this situation for everybody to come together and ask, ‘how can we help with this even if we’re not pediatric nurses?’ It really broadened everybody’s mind and allowed us all to adapt and flex differently.”
Karen says that this collaborative spirit is par for the course at Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center.
"As nurses, when we’re faced with challenges, we’re doers. We’re fixers. We want to make everything better. These nurses did exactly that."
Karen Maggio, RN, MSN, NE-BC
Select an article:
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Letter from Ron Langlotz, DNP, Chief Nursing Officer
Welcome to Howard County Medical Center's 2023-2024 biennial Nursing Report.
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Improving the New Nurse Experience with the Nurse Residency Program
Ranked #3 in the country by nurse.org, the Nurse Residency Program at JHHCMC provides new nurses with the tools and mentorship they need to successfully transition from an academic to a clinical setting.
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The Nurse Externship Program
The nurse externship program at JHHCMC gives nursing students in their final year of school the opportunity to play an active role in the hospital, gain invaluable hands-on experience across hospital departments.
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First Nurse Scientist at JHHCMC Drives Research Innovation and Improvement
Nurse scientist Vicki Lowe, Ph.D., RN, is on a mission to support nurses at JHHCMC in navigating the research process and inspire and empower them to spearhead research initiatives.
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Fall Prevention A Path to Success
Director of Medical and Surgical Nursing Services, Marian Asiedu, MSN, RN, CWCN, and her team helped to identify and implement new safety strategies to improve fall prevention measures across JHHCMC.
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Bereavement Boxes Offer Comfort to Families
The bereavement box program allows nursing staff to offer enhanced family-centered support and understanding to those who are grieving and navigating end-of-life care at JHHCMC. The development of the program is a wonderful example of cross-department collaboration.
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Collaboration in Crisis Builds Foundation for the Future
During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses and providers across all units came together to lend support where it was needed. The experience laid the foundation for improved crisis response and collaboration at JHHCMC once again during a surge.
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Unifying Communications
Clinical Informatics Manager Kim Rost, R.N., served as a liaison between the JHHCMC administration and nursing department to develop novel communications solutions that improve teamwork and, ultimately, patient safety.
