Analysis of the Pertinent Healthcare Issue-The COVID-19 Pandemic

Analysis of the Pertinent Healthcare Issue-The COVID-19 Pandemic

Healthcare institutions have a legal and moral obligation to provide quality healthcare to patients and people in need. Healthcare facilities should be adequately equipped with staff, equipment, and finances to accomplish this objective (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2011). Employment concerns should be kept to a minimum to maintain optimal employment partnerships. However, due to higher employment problems, this vision of a working environment is usually speculative. Many concerns are so prevalent that they are considered national healthcare problems or stressors (Marshall, 2010). This paper will address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare environment as a national healthcare problem having a negative impact on performance effectiveness and possible intervention programs suggested in scholarly articles. Hire our assignment writing services in case your assignment is devastating you. We offer assignment help with high professionalism.

COVID-19 and the Impact on the Healthcare Organization

The COVID-19 pandemic brings to light the massive worldwide disparities and difficulties we all face. The attention to COVID-19 in healthcare facilities drastically decreased overall accessibility to standard medical services. Some facilities limited or stopped providing quality health services or were stressed with treating COVID-19 patients with acute signs and symptoms of respiratory diseases (Cui & Lee, 2020). The key result is that several countries’ healthcare services have been entirely or partially interrupted. Many surveyed countries (53%) have partially or completely interrupted care for hypertension management; 49 percent have interrupted treatment services for diabetes and complications related to diabetes; 42 percent have disrupted cancer treatment services; and 31 percent for cardiovascular disease emergency services. Rehabilitation care has been interrupted in nearly two-thirds (63%) of the countries, even though rehabilitation is critical to a successful recovery following the COVID-19 illness (Cui & Lee, 2020).

The pandemic’s fast-spreading rate posed problems for healthcare organizations. It compelled healthcare practitioners to deal with medical and non-medical stressors such as a lack of personal protective equipment, morbidity and mortality affiliated with COVID-19, the worries of infecting friends and family, and the actuality of losing workmates to the illness. Previous outbreak evidence and initial proof from the COVID-19 outbreak imply that such occurrences have considerable long-term and short-term consequences on healthcare workers’ mental health. Some healthcare organizations developed short-term and long-term programs to support employees’ mental health during and after the COVID-19 outbreak.

For example, in my organization, due to the increased COVID-19 cases, we were compelled to use the initial outdated ICU, which lacked storage, enough working space, essential supplies, and equipment for patient care. Besides, there was an increased workload that led to nurse burnout. Moreover, the organization transferred nursing staff from regulated areas to other fields such as ICUs to fight shortages and increase patient capacity. As a result, this exacerbated stress by putting non-ICU nursing staff in an unfamiliar environment where they lacked sufficient qualifications and skills to care for ICU patients.

Review of COVID-19 from Two Scholarly Articles

According to Jiang et al. (2021), for healthcare systems, COVID-19 is catastrophic. The impact of COVID-19 on health services and other contagious and noncommunicable illnesses was studied. The study recorded that during the COVID-19 pandemic, most worldwide healthcare resources, including ventilation systems, protective equipment, and health professionals, were directed toward the preventative measures, control, and therapeutic interventions of COVID-19. This was especially true in the epicenters of disease outbreaks in various countries, resulting in a lack of medical resources and a significant burden on health systems. The scarcity of healthcare resources contributed to increased COVID-19 morbidity and all-cause death rates. Besides, communicable diseases co-epidemics overstretched health services, for instance, the co-epidemics of dengue fever and COVID-19 and co-epidemics of flu and COVID-19. Patients with noncommunicable illnesses, such as diabetes, faced significant stress due to the interruption of medical care and the increased risk of death following the pandemic  (Jiang et al., 2021). Elective healthcare treatments were also canceled globally to combat COVID-19. Another issue that both patients and healthcare providers faced was mental health problems.

Moreover, according to Ardebili et al. (2021), the COVID-19 pandemic prompted significant adverse changes in healthcare professionals’ work and personal lives. The findings revealed that participants encountered different emotions and progression as the pandemic unfolded. Some of the challenges faced by the healthcare providers were increased workload, ambiguity, loss of confidence and control over the pandemic, shortage of PPEs, self-quarantine, remorseful and death feelings, and anxiety of disease transmission to their family members (Ardebili et al., 2021). Consequently, the problems lead to the manifestation of mental health problems among healthcare providers.

Possible Interventions and their Implications in Practice

Possible interventions should include the provision of adequate healthcare resources to healthcare personnel; there should also be the establishment of a quick, reliable national healthcare support system. In addition, to combat the pandemic, a multidisciplinary team should be established to help in decreasing the workload (Jiang et al., 2021). Besides, health systems should provide protective equipment and financial support to healthcare providers. Moreover, counseling and personal mental health care to the healthcare staff are vital to helping combat the psychological and physical pressures healthcare providers face and are currently facing due to the consequences of the pandemic (Ardebili et al., 2021).

The proposed interventions in practice will imply that effective quality care will be provided to patients. A safe working environment will also be provided to healthcare providers and patients; hence, mortality rates and mental health problems will be reduced. Besides, there will be a reduced workload; hence, patients will receive quality services.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the healthcare system should develop strategies to support those handling the consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As proposed by the two articles, strategies should include mental health programs and PPEs, training more healthcare staff, and providing a safe working environment. Therefore, a timely strategy for the pandemic can transform the lives of many healthcare practitioners and patients.

References

Ardebili, M. E., Naserbakht, M., Bernstein, C., Alazmani-Noodeh, F., Hakimi, H., & Ranjbar, H. (2021). Healthcare provider’s experience of working during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study. American journal of infection control, 49(5), 547-554. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2020.10.001

Cui, L., & Lee, D. (2020). Coaid: Covid-19 healthcare misinformation dataset. arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.00885. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2006.00885

Jiang, P., Klemeš, J. J., Fan, Y. V., Fu, X., & Bee, Y. M. (2021). More is not enough: It is crucial to understand the COVID-19 impacts on healthcare, energy, and the environment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(2), 684. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020684

Marshall, E. S. (2010). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader. Springer Publishing Company.

Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (Eds.). (2011). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Develop a 2 to 3-page paper, written to your organization’s leadership team, addressing your selected national healthcare issue/stressor and how it is impacting your work setting. Be sure to address the following:

Analysis of the Pertinent Healthcare Issue-The COVID-19 Pandemic

Describe the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and its impact on your organization. Use organizational data to quantify the impact (if necessary, seek assistance from leadership or appropriate stakeholders in your organization).
Provide a brief summary of the two articles you reviewed from outside resources on the national healthcare issue/stressor. Explain how the healthcare issue/stressor is being addressed in other organizations.
Summarize the strategies used to address the organizational impact of national healthcare issues/stressors presented in the scholarly resources you selected. Explain how they may impact your organization both positively and negatively. Be specific and provide examples.

Looking Ahead

The paper you develop in Module 1 will be revisited and revised in Module 2. Review the Assignment instructions for Module 2 to prepare for your revised paper.