HJBR May/Jun 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  MAY / JUN 2020 37 Karen C. Lyon, PhD APRN, NEA Chief Executive Officer Louisiana State Board of Nursing IN the last two months, we have added in- numerable terms to our daily vocabulary: mitigate, granular, personal protective equipment (PPE), N-95 masks, flatten the curve, surge capacity, social distancing, testing swabs, self-isolate, quarantine, reproduction number (R0), hydroxychlo- roquine, and convalescent plasma. Who could have ever predicted that everyday Americans would have to become con- versant with such medical terminology to understand daily press conferences from the White House, or the incessant articles published in daily news accounts of the pandemic. Amid mostly bad news, however, I have never been prouder of my profession, and it would seem, I am joined by most of my fellowAmericans. I watch, along with most of the world, as Manhattan transforms into the closest thing we have these days to a pep rally for healthcare workers. At 7:00 p.m. eastern daylight time, New Yorkers lean out of windows, gather on their high- rise porches, or come out on the sidewalk— still maintaining that precious 6 feet of separation—to scream, cheer, clap, bang pots, and applaud the doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and all other man- ner of healthcare staff who are getting us through this. My colleagues all over the world, but especially in hotspots like New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Louisiana arrive everyday to an environment none of them could have ever imagined: refriger- ated trailers behind their hospitals to store the bodies because morgues have been overwhelmed and no longer have room for the dead; shortages of personal protective equipment; preparing their own advanced directives and getting their affairs in order because it’s no longer if they get the virus, but when. Staffing agencies from all over the country are sending nurses and allied health workers from all over the country to assist overwhelmed nurses. LSBN has been busy as well, working with the Louisiana Department of Health and the governor’s office to pass emergen- cy rules and suspend certain statutes that interfere with urgent and rapid licensure of nurses to assist with crisis care in our state, as well as to allow RNs andAPRNs to practice to their full scope without barriers that prevent such practice. Our first two emergency rules allows new graduates to extend their temporary permit, and allows them to continue practicing as RN appli- cants until the crisis is over and they are able to take their licensure exam. We have also allowed emergency relief to RNs and APRNs to do moderate clinical laborato- ry point of care testing in all patient care areas. Collaborative practice agreements (CPA) for APRNs were extended to allow APRNs to work under their CPA in any site without first reporting it to the board. That rule was then supplemented by Executive Order 38 JBE 2020, which suspended the need for CPAs during the health emergen- cy. Other actions taken by Executive Order 38 JBE 2020 included permitting CRNAs to provide anesthesia care and ancillary ser- vices without the direction and supervi- sion of a physician or dentist; suspending the need for RNs and APRNs with active, unencumbered licenses in other states to apply for a license in Louisiana if they were practicing here during the emergency; and authorizing RNs to administer and man- age anesthetics for intubated patients in all healthcare settings in which those patients were cared for. Children in my neighborhood have posted yellow ribbons on trees and chalked their driveways to thank nurses and doc- tors. People gather at sundown to visit with their neighbors across the street or next door. Everyone toasts the nurses, PAs, and other health providers in our neigh- borhood who continue to report to work daily, despite the danger to themselves and even their families. We owe these people our lives. They are engaged every day in a job that demands constant exposure to danger. There is a reason people keep re- ferring to this as a war, and doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and others are on the front line fighting to keep the enemy from advancing. We must be resilient; we must not panic. We must focus on the future. We will beat this, and hopefully, we will make it to the other side as a kinder, gentler, more forgiv- ing, and more united nation. n References 1. Conner, S. (January 8, 2000) Flu epidemic traced to Great War transit camp. The Independent. https://www.webcitation.org/5ghdTveZz?url=http :// www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbe- ing/health-news/flu-epidemic-traced-to-great-war- transit-camp-728112.html 2. Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). (2020) Coronavi- rus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering. https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index. html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6