Maggie Cunningham Swietlik ’86 BSN, DNP, RN-BC, NEA-BC, CPHIMS

Vice President and Chief Nursing Informatics Officer
Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia

March 31, 2020  

As the VP/CNIO at Inova Health System when COVID-19 hit, it was time to pivot and help in any way possible. Basically, the idea was to utilize existing technology to support staffing across the health system and cross training teams to support in a time of crisis.

Current informatics projects were placed on hold and as a system leader, I stepped into the system's COVID-19 coordination center to see how best to use my skills. As a former call center nurse in Philadelphia I found an opportunity to assist by establishing a formal triage call center dedicated to the triage of patients experiencing symptoms consistent with the virus. The Nursing Informatics team was quickly cross trained to handle triage calls and in two days was training other displaced nurses in telephone triage. In addition, once triage was established, I helped establish a centralized staffing office to support nurse leaders in the five system hospitals in the coordination and reallocation of clinical resources to where they are needed most.