Five hundred fifty teams applied to the Johns Hopkins Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design COVID-19 Challenge and 230 were selected to take up the challenge. Among them was team 164—team S.C.R.U.B.S.—populated by three nurse practitioners in a challenge designed for bioengineers.
The nurse practitioners, Asma Ahmed, ANP-C, Mehrunnissa Taj, MS, APN, AOCNP, and Katarzyna LaLicata, FNPC, FNPBC are online DNP (Executive Track) students; Asma and Katarzyna live in California, Mehrunnissa lives in Illinois. They connected digitally to create a project for the theme, “Minimizing transmission of the Coronavirus in homes and communities.”
From Mehrunnissa:
Since all of us are nurse practitioners, we recognized that health care practitioners did not have any standardized information or guidelines for a decontamination routine when they arrived home from their places of work. Within 48 hours, our team created a decontamination routine called S.C.R.U.B.S. with a two minute how-to video and an infographic.
Of 229 teams, team S.C.R.U.B.S. was one of seven finalists. Asma, Mehrunnissa, and Katarzyna will be given training and opportunity to execute their design.
From the organizers:
The mission of our event was to bring together bright minds from around the world, inspire them with direct input from health care experts on the front lines, and equip them with resources and an effective design process to make a difference in this rapidly evolving pandemic. Across the world, the needs of our communities and health care providers are dynamic. Tens of thousands of new cases emerge every day. The peak of impact and ability to respond to this crisis varies from country to country. Therefore, the best solutions are those that can rapidly evolve themselves.
Team S.C.R.U.B.S. , thank you for your service!
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