Three nurses from The Blavatnik Family-Chelsea Medical Center at Mount Sinai came to MSBI during the height of the crisis to help our Infection Prevention Team monitor central lines and Foley catheters for our most critical patients. When a patient has a central venous catheter or port, the likelihood of infection can be high if these indwelling devices are not monitored closely.
Eileen Devries, RN, BSN, and Rina Fetman, RN, BSN, regularly work in the infusion suite and Caitlin Koepsell, MSN, RN, regularly works in breast oncology preparing patients for surgery. This work in infection prevention was brand new to them. Although they were scared at first, they approached the job with curiosity and learned quickly from the Infection Prevention Team.
One major difference in their regular work and their work at MSBI is that monitoring lines is less hands- on with patients. Instead, they identified priorities and created a plan to educate and support fellow nurses, ensuring the safety of our most critical patients. At times, not being able to directly care for patients was challenging, but the team stayed focused and leaned on each other.
Marie Moss, RN, Director of Infection Prevention said, “This team jumped right into a brand new kind of work for them that was critical at the time of our COVID-19 surge. All of our clinical teams were overloaded with new responsibilities and changing guidelines for COVID-19 care. Caitlin, Eileen, and Rina provided dedicated attention to patient central lines and Foley catheters that otherwise may have been overlooked. I am so thankful for their agility, professionalism, and dedication.”
