Nursing student volunteers, from left, Pearl Scalzo, Sylvie Jean Baptiste, and Jacky Lee stocked emergency trays for the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Pharmacy.
Twenty-two students at the Phillips School of Nursing at Mount Sinai Beth Israel have logged more than 1,000 volunteer hours since early April, taking on key support roles in pharmacy and research to help overburdened Mount Sinai Health System staff at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The effort was launched by two student leaders, Shayna LaSala, President of Student Government at the School of Nursing, and Frances “Frankie” Burney, chapter president of its National Student Nurse Association. They say they were inspired by the several hundred medical and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who had been volunteering through the newly created Sinai Student Workforce.
With the help of Dean Todd F. Ambrosia, DNP, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, FNAP, Ms. LaSala and Ms. Burney created the Nursing Student Workforce, giving nursing students the opportunity to volunteer in the pharmacy at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and at Mount Sinai Morningside, and to play vital roles in a significant COVID-19 research project at the Icahn School of Medicine.
As part of their efforts, the nursing students assembled crash carts and emergency kits, prepared medications, and performed whatever tasks were requested by pharmacy technicians. One student who was particularly skilled in phlebotomy trained registered nurses and personal care assistants on the latest venipuncture techniques. They also joined a cadre of staff and other volunteers on the Mount Sinai COVID-19 Tissue Collection Taskforce, where they helped to create a biobank of specimens from COVID-19 patients that later would be analyzed in research laboratories as part of a study by Mount Sinai scientists. The students were assigned to help assemble test tubes, deliver them to unit nurses, and then collect the full ones hours later, working in day or evening shifts.
Nursing student volunteers, from left, Dominique Falci, Rebecca Dornfeld, and Gurpawan “Gia” Kang helped to create a biobank of specimens from COVID-19 patients as part of a research study.
“Our nursing students were determined to help during this crisis,” says Dr. Ambrosia. “Their actions demonstrated that nursing truly is a calling—one that attracts those who strive to help humankind. I am extremely proud to stand with them and the nursing profession as we continue to care for our patients and one another.”
“It was inspiring to be part of a team where everyone—doctors, nurses, volunteers—came together to get through this,” says Dominique Falci, a nursing student who was involved in both research and pharmacy tasks. “There were so many extremely sick patients and so much bad news, but staff and volunteers were so warm and supportive of each other. It was very uplifting, especially as a student,” she says.
The students believe they got a unique perspective that will influence how they perceive hospital relationships. “Everyone brings a different skill set into a situation,” says Ms. Burney. “This experience has, for me, highlighted the special relationship between doctors and nurses and how much they can achieve by working together closely as a team across all disciplines.”
The students volunteered between semesters, launching the project in April after completing their final exams. However, now that classes have resumed, most are unable to continue volunteering, though Ms. Falci intends to make it part of her schedule. Fortunately, as new COVID-19 admissions have been declining, there is less need for volunteers. The student volunteers, who are in the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program, will graduate in August.
“It really has been a privilege to ease some of the burden on front-line workers,” says Ms. LaSala. “And, seeing our student body come together and work seamlessly as an interdisciplinary team with the medical students and Mount Sinai staff during such a stressful time is a learning experience we’ll never forget.”
Nursing student volunteer Gurpawan “Gia” Kang, left, helped Nicole Simons, MA, Team Leader of the COVID-19 biobank research study, collect biospecimens at an inpatient unit in Guggenheim Pavilion.