Home Forums DNP Practice Issues The 4th Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic Check out this graphic to anticipate future effort Reply To: Check out this graphic to anticipate future effort

#41229
Rosemary Benavides
Participant

The graphic displays a COVID pandemic timeline describing it in phrases, or waves. The first wave: Immediate mortality and morbidity of COVID -19, the second wave: Impact of resource restriction on urgent non-COVD conditions, the third wave: Impact and interrupted care on chronic conditions, and the fourth wave: Psychic Trauma, mental illness, economic injury, and burnout. The timeline was created in 2020. It is February 2022, we are almost 2 years into this pandemic, and I would say that the graphic displayed is a fairly accurate timeline of the pandemic thus far. As an emergency department nurse at a level one trauma center, I have witnessed, and am witnessing these waves first hand. In my opinion, we have been experiencing the fourth wave for some time now. This pandemic has had a negative impact on healthcare system and communities. Many individuals, including adults and children, have suffered due to the psychological strain that the pandemic has created. Many people were laid off, or were forced to work from home, which also created feelings of social isolation. Children were also affected because they had to participate in online learn, which made social interactions with their friends and instructors impossible. As a result, adults and children experienced many mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and even suicide. Healthcare workers have also been affected by mental illnesses and burnout. Furthermore, the burnout has resulted in an overwhelming amount of nurses quitting, changing to different specialties, or units, which has in turn left many units in the hospital short staffed.