Goldfarb Nursing Students Help Combat COVID-19

The following reflection was provided by Rebecca Schamel, a nursing student at Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing. Schamel, along with other students, volunteered her time at one of BJC’s COVID-19 Collection Sites and wanted to share her personal experience. The following reflection was provided by Rebecca Schamel, a nursing student at Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing. Schamel, along with other students, volunteered her time at one of BJC’s COVID-19 Collection Sites and wanted to share her personal experience.

“The day I volunteered at the BJC COVID-19 Collection Site was a day I won’t forget as I prepare to enter the health care force as a nurse in just a few short months. It was overwhelming at times, but gratifying to know how much I’m learning and experiencing at such a pivotal time — not only in our country, but in the world — with regard to this pandemic,” Schamel says.

Here are her reflections on the day:

Today was a great start to a weekend of testing. I thought it was well organized and well led. I also thought it was gratifying to feel appreciated both by the patients and by the workers.

Overall, it was what I expected — more or less. I knew it was going to be flexible and fluid as far as making adjustments to the processes of collection and organization, because it was the pilot collection site for BJC. On the other hand, I was positively surprised at just how organized the experience was today. I didn’t expect to do a SWAT analysis after the day, but I’ve already seen firsthand just how helpful it is to improving the process overall.

I wasn’t sure how many patients to expect today. Although I was assured that 49 people sought out care for their respiratory symptoms, I was also a bit frightened that the number of patients tested had almost doubled daily in the past three days.

There were many plusses and just a couple of minuses throughout the day. The plusses were good staff coverage, teamwork, processes to help ensure employees’ safety and the overall emphasis on safety. With regard to minuses, we discussed making adjustments via walkie-talkie to streamline the communication process, which was confusing at times with multiple groups of people involved. And, although it was out of our control, the weather was a minus, with a cold wind affecting not only the tent stability, but the employees as well.

Overall, I was impressed as the day began and I continued to be impressed through the end of the day by the tremendous teamwork and leadership I encountered. Teamwork was evident from the start of the day, as a new plan took shape because of the weather conditions and a tent, broken by the wind, had to be dealt with.

The leadership was extremely positive and effective in bringing safety to the core of this clinical site, for both patients and employees. I was very happy to be part of a team of such a variety of health care workers and administrators who work so well together to continually improve this process and provide the best care to patients during this time.