Florida Hospital COVID 19 Crisis

Good Health Hospital: COVID-19 Crisis

With any disease, there are three basic levels of addressing the crisis, that of primary care (prevention), management during the early stages, and then more intensive tertiary-level treatment when the disease has become more advanced. With COVID-19, the healthcare system has been dealing with several critical factors regarding the pandemic. As well as the disease itself, there has been an evolution of new variants such as Omicron, which has been infecting already-vaccinated people, and resistance to the idea of vaccination at all. The speed with which the pandemic is intensifying is of particular concern.

According to Salvador-Carulla (et al., 2019), hospitals must move from an evidence-based framework, with rigorous long-term testing of various epidemiological approaches. Instead, an evidence-informed framework must be adopted. Hospitals must make do with good enough information, given the rapidity with which the pandemic has spread. Good management has always been compromised of a balance of evidence-based qualitative and quantitative data, but now, qualitative and immediate observations (such as the reasons for vaccine resistance or provider burnout) may need to be given greater weight, given the demand for immediate information and quick actions (Khaliq, 2018).

To fight the pandemic, epidemiological management requires two critical factors: first, to retain and support providers, second to support vaccination.

Roles and Responsibilities

Even before the pandemic, burnout of healthcare providers was becoming highly problematic in addressing healthcare issues, given the rise of chronic illnesses and the rapidly aging population. COVID-19 exacerbated such issues, requiring many healthcare providers to come out of retirement during the initial stages. First, expanding the pool of providers during emergency situations is paramount, as is providing the needed physical and emotional support system to ensure providers can offer a high level of quality care to patients in need. Burnout is a specifically recognized symptom by World Health Organization (WHO), comprising chronic stress, fatigue, negative feelings, and reduced professional capacity (Sharifi et al., 2020). Of course, physical shortage of equipment such as PPE, ventilators, and other needed equipment to treat COVID-19 is also a factor. But it is also vitally necessary to have healthcare providers to make use of such equipment, with trained knowledge.

Nursing shortages existed even before COVID-19 became a factor. But COVID-19, as well as burnout, introduced additional stressors. Providers manifest the same sort of stressors as many other people during this recent pandemic, including the problem of children needing supervision during virtual schooling, and falling ill themselves to COVID-19. Initially, healthcare providers reported greater appreciation during the earlier phases of the pandemic than they had experienced previously (Sharifi et al., 2020).

Gradually, however, this was replaced by pushback from pandemic-fatigued patients and families, as well as hostility as a result of the politicization of the pandemic, driving healthcare providers to quit in record number. Hiring more employees, soliciting employees to fill-in temporarily from out-of-state, and offering on-site therapy are all ways to provide more immediate support to providers. Effective management of schedules to reduce pressure upon providers to work back-to-back shifts, overtime, and night shifts is also necessary to reduce fatigue and burnout.

Who Should Be Notified?

Finally, as consistent with federal and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, requiring full vaccination must be required both to stem the spread of the epidemic and to reduce the likelihood of providers catching the illness and requiring time off (Pilishvili et al., 2020). Emergency managers must continue to monitor staff levels, attrition levels, and keep state authorities and, ideally neighboring hospitals, informed to determine where and how outbreaks are occurring to better manage staffing, in case triaging patients between different hospitals (particularly with patients that need more intensive treatment and technologically advanced equipment) is required. Currently, the Tampa Bay facility is operating at full capacity, which may require patients to be shipped to other hospitals, or an influx of new staff (either temporary or from nearby facilities).

Key Elements of Addressing the Situation: Vaccination and Patient Education

In addition to supporting providers and increasing provider numbers to prevent burnout, another element of reducing strain is through prevention. Primary care and prevention are always preferable to secondary care. Even if vaccination cannot guarantee a patient will not catch or spread COVID-19, the evidence suggests that vaccination has been a significant factor in reducing severity of disease and transmission, despite the evolution of new variants such as Omicron. Florida has been criticized on a national level for its relatively anemic response to the pandemic, in terms of being vigilant about requiring mask-wearing and promoting vaccination.

Although the governor has lately been encouraging Floridians to get vaccinated, like many GOP leaders, he has been cagey about his own status regarding getting a COVID booster (Knowles & Beachum, 2022). In the absence of state leadership, it may be necessary for providers themselves to step in and act as advocates. Referring patients to current CDC guidelines by age and current vaccination status to reduce community spread is essential. Providers must also have strategies to employ to talk through vaccine resistance.