Adaptive staffing can mitigate essential worker disease and absenteeism in an emerging epidemic

Abstract

Essential worker absenteeism has been a pressing problem in the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 20% of US hospitals experienced staff shortages, exhausting replacement pools and at times requiring COVID-positive healthcare workers to remain at work. To our knowledge there are no data-informed models examining how different staffing strategies affect epidemic dynamics on a network in the context of rising worker absenteeism. Here we develop a susceptible–infected–quarantined-recovered adaptive network model using pair approximations to gauge the effects of worker replacement versus redistribution of work among remaining healthy workers in the early epidemic phase. Parameterized with hospital data, the model exhibits a time-varying trade-off: Worker replacement minimizes peak prevalence in the early phase, while redistribution minimizes final outbreak size. Any “ideal” strategy requires balancing the need to maintain a baseline number of workers against the desire to decrease total number infected. We show that one adaptive strategy—switching from replacement to redistribution at epidemic peak—decreases disease burden by 9.7% and nearly doubles the final fraction of healthy workers compared to pure replacement.

Amplifying patient voices amid pandemic: Perspectives on tracheostomy care, communication, and connection

“…These findings extend into the home nursing arena; previous studies have also shown that most families caring for children with tracheostomy were not satisfied with availability of nursing coverage [32] . Many patient and family respondents to our survey chose to opt-out of such care and “go it alone” without professional help to minimize risk of infection.…”

“…The average QOL scores for pediatric tracheostomy patients are lower than for patients with many other chronic illnesses [52] . QOL surveys of parents caring for children with tracheostomy find moderate distress and significant negative effects on mental health, [32] similar to caregivers of adults living with tracheostomy [30] .…”

“…Proactive approaches to address supply and personnel shortages can also attenuate the effects of pandemic surges on health systems [64]. Fostering virtual networks can foster a sense of community, allowing shared learning and coping among patients and families [32] . Families of pediatric patients with tracheostomy have proven particularly adept at leveraging online forums and social media, which are likely an underutilized outlet for disseminating best practices and education [65].…”

“…Tracheostomy is thus an aspect of personhood and lifeline, albeit sometimes a tenuous one [16] . Fear and anxiety were commonly reported by individuals with a tracheostomy even before COVID-19 pandemic [28] , [29] , [30] , and studies suggest that prevalence of anxiety disorders may have increased by more than threefold from a pre-pandemic baseline estimate of 7.3 % in this population [31] , [32] .…”

Absenteísmo entre os profissionais de saúde durante a pandemia de COVID-19: uma revisão integrativa

“…, corrobora com o artigo anterior quando afirma que os profissionais de saúde estão em maior risco de infecção pela COVID-19, fator que justifica a maior taxa de absenteísmo por saúde e custos assistenciais. Aguilar, et al (2021), Khorasanee, et al (2021), apontam o absenteísmo como um problema predominante na pandemia da COVID-19, esgotando as reposições de profissionais e por vezes, exigindo que os mesmos permanecessem trabalhando mesmo testando positivo para COVID-19, impactando na qualidade de vida do profissional e dos cuidados prestados. Concordando com o que foi dito anteriormente, Challener, et al (2021), utilizam como exemplo a gripe sazonal para apoio estratégico na atuação da pandemia pela COVID-19, avaliam o presenteísmo como uma fonte de redução de produtividade para os empregadores, especialmente na área da saúde.…”