Amy Kim, student in Weill Cornell Medicine’s MS in Health Informatics program and hospital pharmacist in NewYork-Presbyterian’s Emergency Department, was among the first to see COVID-19 patients as they started filling New York City hospitals.
While pharmacists are sometimes overlooked as frontline workers, they serve an essential role in safe and effective care delivery — especially during crises when the healthcare system is put under an enormous strain. Because of this, the pandemic has added layers of intricacy to Amy’s role.
“During the height of the pandemic, most of our patients were COVID-19 positive. Our focus shifted to assisting with the rapid sequence intubation process and minimizing staff exposure, which added to the existing process complexity,” Amy said. “In the past few months, together as a multidisciplinary team, we have developed protocols for care, treatment and management of COVID-19 patients in the midst of PPE and medication shortages.”
The Emergency Department has given Amy a unique perspective as a patient-facing clinician, working directly with physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists, among others.
“While this situation continues to evolve, it has been beyond rewarding to be an integral part of patient care during this time,” Amy said. “This invaluable experience has taught me the significance of teamwork and empathy.”
Amy’s schoolwork in health informatics has also played a role in helping her understand how to best care for COVID-19 patients. When the pandemic first hit New York City in March, Amy was taking the “Health Behavior and Consumer Informatics” course. Interestingly enough, the last in-person lecture before classes became remote was about a telehealth initiative within Weill Cornell Medicine’s Emergency Department and the impact this novel patient care model has made. To Amy, one of the most impressive aspects of this was the beneficial influence it has on reducing walk-out rates and wait time.
“Having worked in the Emergency Department myself, I know such a solution is paramount,” Amy said. “Now more than ever with this pandemic, I strongly believe that telehealth services will continue to play a vital role in the healthcare industry as the new norm for care delivery, expanding from emergency medicine to primary care and other specialties.”
Amy believes that a data-driven multidisciplinary effort is imperative. She’s looking forward to becoming equipped with further education and training while finishing her master’s degree — skills that will help her improve patient experience and health outcomes long after the COVID-19 pandemic.