At any time, and especially during a crisis, there is one thing than can be consistently relied upon to be clear, unemotional, and ever-present: data. As the most esteemed academic medical center in the region, it is not surprising that Nebraska Medicine leverages data to ensure the right person is in the right place at the right time to deliver exceptional care. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this penchant for data-driven decision making was put to the test as they had to staff up to meet all-time high demand, pivot to utilize staff from closed areas, as well as set up virus testing sites.

Planning for the Unexpected | Acting Quickly

For Nebraska Medicine, dealing with the extreme is nothing new. In 2014 they established a 10-bed Biocontainment Unit to treat patients with Ebola. Operational since 2005, this is one of 10 such units in the country equipped to handle an outbreak of this nature. With that experience, Nebraska Medicine charged forward to plan for COVID-19. By utilizing extensive talent scenario planning they were able to anticipate a number of if/then situations. The team ran simulations with staffing demands for a multitude of different census points across all active departments. This planning helped them realize they needed to be clever with the staff they had to be able to meet many possible outcomes.