Reply To: Check out this graphic to anticipate future effort

[Elizabeth Lopez]

This topic I’m sure still hits home to all of us that have worked through the pandemic. The chart that was provided was a great depiction of what took place during the four waves of covid in healthcare settings. Starting from the first wave, I can recall how almost every patient that came in with covid like symptoms if oxygen level was low, they would decompensate so quickly. So many of us can tell plenty stories of many lives that were lost during that horrible time. During the second wave our resources were impacted because our suppliers were having difficulty filling in the demand of request for all healthcare facilities. This is during the time I recall we were stretching out the use of our PPE’s. When the third wave came around, I don’t think healthcare had enough time to recover before we started to have high census due to patients with chronic illnesses. Most of these patients were not being cared for or attending their primary doctor visits because they were afraid and video visits, I don’t think was fulfilling the needs of this population. Lastly, the fourth wave on the chart indicated the outcome of the pandemic impact that included psych trauma, mental illness, economic injury, and burnout. I don’t think anyone could have predicted this pandemic lasting to this point. The ongoing isolations have caused an increase in mental health crisis including depression and anxiety not only on healthcare staff but for the public as well. The economic burden was also felt throughout the world and contributed as an additional stressor. Burnout for staff has hit its peak. Many healthcare staff have not been able to stop and devote time for themselves. Covid numbers have dropped but now we are dealing with staffing issues and still working out of ratio on many occasions. It is important to develop a plan to make changes to address all these issues and get healthcare back on track. We need to develop a plan to provide necessary resources for all staff to feel supported. We also need to be able to get back to providing the quality care that our patients need.