Nurse Upskilling During Crisis: Collaborating for Continuing Education

Background: As rates of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reached pandemic levels in early 2020, the need for intensive care unit (ICU) nurses with mechanical ventilator knowledge increased. In response to the pan-demic, hospital systems with limited resources reported moving ICU nurse educators to direct patient care roles and reassigning non-ICU nurses to work in the ICU. With fewer resources to educate non-ICU nurses and many newly assigned nurses reporting feeling unprepared for work in the ICU, the need for an accessible and scalable introduction to ICU nursing became clear. Method: Our team responded by creating a free, online, self-paced, asynchronous course introducing the ICU nursing set-ting. Results: More than 4,000 learners worldwide have enrolled in the course, with 94% of survey respondents expecting the course to positively impact their institution. Conclusion: Our project shows an approach to effective collaboration among clinical partners, instructional designers, and nursing experts to address critical needs in continuing education in nursing.