Tracheostomy Thursday: Journey of a Staff-driven COVID-19 Initiative to International Recognition.

Objective: To use evidence-based practice and an interprofessional approach to improve outcomes for adult patients with tracheostomies and enhance staff knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: The core interprofessional Tracheostomy Thursday team included staff nurses, respiratory therapists, and nursing leadership who collaborated with surgeons and materials management staff at an urban academic medical center in New York, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. The team implemented hospital-wide bedside rounds on all adults with tracheostomies.

Skin Failure Among Critically Ill Patients Afflicted with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

To characterize skin integrity among coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU), and identify risk factors for skin failure (SF) in these patients. The characteristic, profound pro-inflammatory, hypercoagulable state of COVID-19 is manifested by the high severity of illness and extensive organ dysfunction observed in these patients. SF in critically ill patients, although described previously, exhibits a uniquely complex pathogenesis in this population.