Rapid deployment of Omaha System guideline supports COVID-19 response

Just a day following the World Health Organization (WHO) characterization of COVID-19 as a pandemic, the Center for Nursing Informatics Director Karen Monsen, PhD, RN, FAMIA, FAAN, and the Omaha System Community of Practice and Research published an evidence-based guideline to support the international COVID-19 response.

This School of Nursing-led international response leveraged center expertise to rapidly develop and disseminate evidence-based interventions designed to defeat the pandemic. It was in immediate responsiveness to the WHO Director-General acknowledgement, “WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.”

Response included over 350 individuals from 35 states and 15 countries. There are 108 interventions for 33 different roles from community members to health systems to policy makers. The guideline is based on over 143 sources published by WHO, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other leading organizations and is continuously updated. Doctoral students are key contributors during weekly meetings to evaluate new information and update the guideline, which is available online (omahasystemguidelines.org).

Collaborators internationally are extending this work with research related to midwifery, community health workers, corrections, end-of-life care, cardiac rehabilitation, barbershops, college students, emergency preparedness and long-term care. The app Omaha System Guidelines is available through iTunes and Google Play, and at app.omahasystemguidelines.org. If you would like to be involved please contact the center faculty at mons0122@umn.edu.

Monsen, K. A. (2020). Rapid development and deployment of an international Omaha System evidence-based guideline to support the COVID-19 response, CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing. 38, 5, 224-226

Novacek, L., Shelton, D. Luethy, R., Medley-Lane, B. S., McLane, T., & Monsen, K. A. (in review). Correctional nurses on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic: Omaha System guidelines documentation case study.