Impact on Health Care Systems
While almost every aspect of our lives has changed, the most dramatic
impact of this pandemic is on our health care system. Priorities of care
shifted rapidly to combat the virus as a top priority. Significant
reduction of non-COVID-19-related health care has been universally
recommended and adopted across the world. Care deemed to be
“non-essential” or less “critical” is to be deferred until we win
this fight. Capacity in the health care systems had to be created to
accommodate the rising number of patients with COVID-19 infection,
particularly those needing critical care. Hospital beds, intensive care
units (ICUs), operating rooms, and emergency services had to gear up for
the tsunami of the “surge”. Outpatient care for other medical
conditions was drastically diminished to free up downstream resources,
personnel, and protective equipment. Virtual care increasingly replaced
personal care across the board. In addition to downscaling, as the
“surge” hit some of the major metropolitan regions worldwide, health
care systems had to quickly adapt by strategies of reallocation,
repurposing, and deployment of providers, equipment and resources
towards COVID-19 care. The urgent need to increase capacity also
prompted the rapid construction of emergency health care facilities,
repurposing of existing buildings such as convention centers for health
care delivery, and recruiting additional health care support from
retired health providers and the military. It is unclear right now how
this shift of resources to combat COVID-19 will impact the outcomes of
reduced care for other conditions. This will have to be measured after
this global crisis is over.