Imagine it’s April 2020, and you’re a nurse who supports patients in their homes and hospitals. How do you ensure your patients get the critical medications they need during the worst pandemic in recent history?

That’s what Elena Tasis Fernandez faced when she took a new job with IQVIA as a Nurse Advisor in early 2020. But despite the challenges, she and her U.K. nursing colleagues were committed to ensuring patients received the care they needed. In fact, the team of 55 nurses gave more than 20,000 infusions and injections in the process.

“I would see about three patients per day in their homes, and many of them were very worried about catching the virus in their fragile conditions,” Elena said. “Of course, we took every precaution possible to protect them as well as ourselves — and still do. Once they saw our dedication to making sure they got their treatments while keeping them safe, they started to feel more confident in our visits.”

Resiliency in action

Leontia Gribben, director of nursing in the U.K., said the team of traveling nurses encountered many more challenges during the pandemic than just the virus.

“They dealt with a higher sick rate among their patients as some of them contracted COVID-19,” she said. “Deep-cleaning protocols necessitated longer in-home visits. And then they had external factors to manage like carrying documentation in case they were stopped by law enforcement during a mandatory stay-at-home order.”

Throughout this experience, Leontia said she was most amazed by the resilience of her colleagues and healthcare workers in general.

“They could have easily stayed home during the pandemic — just as the rest of us did — but that’s not the type of people they are,” Leontia said. “They went into healthcare because, when they see a need, they will find a way to make it happen. I’m very proud of all our nurses, including our 10 remote/virtual nurses who were always available to take patient calls. They all did such a sterling job — I couldn’t be prouder.”

Elena’s ability to speak English and Spanish made her even more of an asset to this team because some patients only spoke Spanish. Her hard work even earned her IQVIA’s Heart, Mind and Soul award for the positive and heartfelt feedback she received unsolicited from her patients.

“If you are good to people, people are good to you,” Leontia said.

Thanks to all our IQVIA nurses for your heroic efforts, not only during the pandemic but what you do every day.

Interested in exploring a career as Nurse Advisor with us? Apply today.