The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted health care systems (HCSs) worldwide, in both the public and private sectors, and has worsened existing problems. However, it has also acted as a catalyst for much-needed change, pushing many HCSs to take action much more quickly than they would have in the pre-academic operating environment.
The current challenge is to continue the momentum started by such initiatives to provide better care at a reduced overall cost and to develop resilience for potential COVID-19 pandemics or possibly subsequent COVID-19 waves. Public and private HCSs around the world can do so by implementing five lessons learned from previous pandemic responses:
Lessons To Be Given From Actions In The Crisis
Many new treatment models, technologies, and patient needs are emerging. These modifications impact how healthcare executives and providers approach patient care. These five lessons acquired from 2021 by healthcare professionals will help them thrive in the future as we manage the shift to a new normal.
Lesson 1
We must deliberately look for methods to express real empathy towards our caregivers. Additionally, we must recognize that personnel shortages will continue for a while, making it all the more crucial to invest in the current workforce.
The overwhelming stress caused by COVID-19 care volumes, excessive paperwork, broken electronic health records (EHR), changing regulations, and reimbursement restrictions has done its best to sap people's enthusiasm and commitment to helping others.
Lesson 2
We must address the issue of patients' lack of confidence in their medical care. There is now a barrier between the caregiver and the patient due to the patient's uncertainty and frustration regarding diagnosis, treatments, vaccines, and political beliefs.
To make sure we don't stray from our organization's quality of care objectives, it's crucial to develop fresh approaches to develop connections that can restore the connection and trust here.
Lesson 3
Patients should be treated the same as consumers. Due to reduced services and a delay in more lucrative elective operations, the epidemic has cost US health systems billions of dollars.
This opportunity has been seized by non-traditional health organizations, further upending perceptions of what care is and should look like. It will be crucial for long-term retention and satisfaction to monitor and comprehend the aspirations of the new healthcare consumer.
Lesson 4
Patients anticipate receiving care for reasons more than just their primary illness. We must figure out how to convert business visions of health equality, social determinants of health, and patient-centered care into operational procedures that are active and that we can monitor and enhance.
Lesson 5
People need care everywhere and at all times. Healthcare professionals have chosen telehealth as one of their top strategic priorities for 2022. The usage of telehealth technology through the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 fulfilled a fundamental demand for treatment provision and access.
Moreover, it demonstrated to patients that treatment could be delivered in alternative ways. Organizations must swiftly adopt a more patient-centered, technology-driven strategy to meet this need. In 2022, as telehealth 2.0 and remote patient monitoring continue to develop, we must decide how to best coordinate these new demands.
How Have Healthcare Professionals Responded?
All reports indicate that healthcare professionals have reacted very well. They have quickly changed how they deliver treatment, adjusted schedules, adopted telehealth, and even repurposed spaces (for example, converting operating rooms into ICU) or made do with improvised safety measures, although that's far from ideal.
People are talking about how far healthcare workers will protect themselves and their families. For example, doctors stay in their garages, hotels, or rented apartments instead of going home, where they might unknowingly infect a family member. Also, healthcare workers avoid their small children when they get home until changing their work clothes.
Supporting Health Care Providers Emotionally
Healthcare providers on the front lines were praised as heroes for their actions throughout the pandemic. They felt the very human sentiments of vulnerability, fear of spreading the virus to their families and regret not being able to save every patient as they entered "hot" zones of ill COVID-19 patients.
Many found the compliment challenging to accept because it suggested they had superhuman strength. Although having a service-oriented culture is a strength, it can also mask the need for assistance people have, which can result in burnout and inappropriate emotions.
In addition to stress management and resilience training, they also offered peer support champion (health) rounds, recharge rooms, and easily accessible mental health resources. These resources ought to be kept around constantly.
Global health systems are under pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making it more difficult to provide safe, high-quality care. Although its execution will be difficult, the reports we've cited offer a solution. The pandemic shed new light on the benefits and importance of proactive safety and quality improvements during times of crisis.
Global learning will become more important than ever in the future as health systems deal with COVID-19's long-term consequences. The field of global health can benefit from best practices by learning how to modify interventions and their execution to their particular situation in order to promote improvement.
