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Tracey B. Von Dollen, BA, RN, BSN

“Since mid-March, the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at Johns Hopkins Hospital has been the first to admit COVID-19 patients locally and from the greater Maryland region. We are also the first unit to be converted into two negative pressure biocontainment units. Respiratory failure is one of our areas of expertise, so MICU nurses have been leading the efforts to educate other ICU and floor nurses on how to care for Adult Medicine patients. For the past month, a group of MICU nurses including myself have been partnering with our colleagues in our stepdown, the Medical Progressive Care Unit. We are teaching them how to prone a patient, how to assist in bedside procedures, how to manage the vent and CRRT, and how to titrate sedation, paralytics and pressors, in order for them to stand up their own ICU. We are also trialing a team nursing model that pairs 1-2 MPCU nurses and 1 ICU nurse to care for 3-4 ICU patients to accommodate the high volume of COVID-19 patients admitted.

It’s all hands-on deck at this point, and I am so proud of every single nurse who adapted so quickly and works so hard to give the best care for every single person here.”