Teresa Llácer and Andión Goñi, directors of Nursing at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, respectively, participated in a webinar on management during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Organized by the School of Nursing of the University of Navarra, the online seminar was attended by more than 60 people, connected from Spain, Portugal, and several Latin American countries such as Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador.

"The main challenge was the reorganization of all the assistance devices and human resources. Many professionals have left their comfort zone to support other services" recalled Andión Goñi. "The management of staff has been a challenge. The ability of enquiry and operating room nurses to adapt to support attendance and the ICU has been enormous. And it has required a lot of training, sometimes in record time," acknowledged Teresa Llácer. In her case, moreover, the challenge of the management during the pandemic was added to another challenge: that of a Clinic that was taking its first steps in Madrid.

"In this crisis, nursing has been, from the very first moment, very patient-focused. This is what our profession is all about: accompanying the patient throughout the process. But in this status it seemed even more necessary," Teresa explained. "Our nurses were concerned from the beginning not to leave the patient alone," corroborated Andión. Daily calls to inform families of the patient's progress, video calls with relatives, e-mails, guides to care for non-recoverable patients, farewell rooms... were some of the measures they listed.

During the webinar, it was recalled that 2020 is being celebrated as the International Year of Nursing. "We certainly didn't expect to celebrate it like this," Andión acknowledged. "The commitment of professionals to patients and society has been highlighted. I hope it will serve as a lever for everything that needs to be done. We nurses have to take the lead," said Andión. "There are things like the value of care or the advantages of working in multiprofessional teams, which this pandemic has highlighted and which should not be lost," Teresa concluded.

Both she and Andión insisted on the importance of planning and multidisciplinary teams. This is something that the crisis has reaffirmed. Asked what they would do differently if they were to find themselves again in a similar situation status , both agreed that they would do things the same way again, only better. And both said that communication was a point to be improved.

As they work in very different hospitals (12 de Octubre is public and very large, while the Clinic is a small private center), their experience was complementary and very useful for all the attendees.