• Diana Brickman, Andrew Greenway, Kathryn Sobocinski, Hanh Thai, Ashley Turick, Kevin Xuereb, Danielle Zambardino, Philip S Barie, and Susan I Liu.
• Diana Brickman is a cardiac clinical program coordinator, Andrew Greenway is a clinical nurse specialist, Kathryn Sobocinski, Ashley Turick, and Danielle Zambardino are nurses in the surgical intensive care unit, Hanh Thai is a nurse practitioner, Kevin Xuereb is a clinical nurse manager, and Susan I. Liu is a nurse clinician in the surgical intensive care unit, Department of Nursing, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, New York.
• Am. J. Crit. Care. 2020 Sep 1; 29 (5): e104-e107.

BackgroundIn response to the coronavirus pandemic, New York State mandated that all hospitals double the capacity of their adult intensive care units In this facility, resources were mobilized to increase from 104 to 283 beds.ObjectiveTo create and implement a 3-hour curriculum to prepare several hundred non-critical care staff nurses to manage critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019.MethodsCritical care nursing leaders and staff developed and implemented a flexible critical care nursing curriculum tailored to the diverse experience, expertise, and learning needs of non-critical care nursing staff who were being redeployed to critical care units during the surge response to the pandemic. Curricular elements included respiratory failure and ventilator management, shock and hemodynamics, pharmacotherapy for critical illnesses, and renal replacement therapy. A skills station allowed hands-on practice with common critical care equipment.ResultsA total of 413 nurses completed training within 10 days. As of June 2020, 151 patients with coronavirus disease 2019 still required mechanical ventilation at our institution, and 7 of 10 temporary intensive care units remained operational. Thus most of the nurses who received this training continued to practice critical care. A unique feature of this curriculum was the tailored instruction, adapted to learners' needs, which improved the efficiency of content delivery.ConclusionsProgram evaluation is ongoing. As recovery and restoration proceed and normal operations resume, detailed feedback from program participants and patient care managers will help the institution maintain high operational readiness should a second wave of critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 be admitted.©2020 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

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