The Center for Nursing Excellence (CNE) (all Memorial Hermann Southwest Educators) have worked diligently to partner with their units, University Place (UP), and the Community to ensure we all practiced safe COVID measures. They all worked to rapidly re-design education and helped us to provide resources to the acute care setting.

At the beginning and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the CNE team at Memorial Hermann Southwest can be credited for the incredible amount of projects they implemented and served as a foundational framework of practices to build upon. In a matter of three days, this team established and implemented the Team Nursing Skills Training course, which is a 4-hour training class, providing the essential basic patient care skills that could be delivered by non-nursing disciplines such as physical and occupational therapists, patient care transporters, surgical technicians, and supervised by Registered Nurses. This class was then quickly adopted and served as the underpinning for our healthcare system’s “Team Essentials Training” courses.

The Educators also assisted with COVID testing. They trained in real-time settings as policies and procedures were being drafted. They were also integral in testing UP residents and training their staff to help them maintain compliance with new state regulations, and they even worked closely with Lab Department to ensure patients in the community had a cleared COVID test result to prevent community spread. The Educators worked with an interdisciplinary team to create Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supply carts and the Emergency PPE tackle boxes.

Throughout this entire time, this team also helped boost the spirits of the hospital. They led the planning and deployment of the Nurses Week activities; including reaching out to the Community and coordinating donations to reduce costs to the organization. They even led a Tik-Tok to create a day of fun and relaxing enjoyable time. Staff from various disciplines and the Executive Team joined in on this fun.

Lastly, this team also coordinated the Community Parade to celebrate the entire hospital and boost their spirits through the height of the pandemic. These moments created lasting memories for all! Thank you to our Memorial Hermann Southwest Educators for all that you do!