Nine Lessons Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic for Improving Hospital Care and Health Care Delivery

Abstract

New York City (NYC) was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US in March 2020. A dense city of only 302 square miles, it has had 33 359 deaths and 109 192 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 as of June 15, 2021. 1 In guiding NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest municipal hospital system in the US, through the pandemic, we have learned a number of lessons. Although there is much to debate about the national public health response to COVID-19, 2 we focus on the lessons learned through COVID-19 that we believe have applicability for improving hospital care in the future. The growth of telehealth has been covered elsewhere. 3,4 We present 9 other lessons for improving hospital care and health care delivery.

Burnout Among Healthcare Workers in the COVID 19 Era: A Review of the Existing Literature

“…Regarding the cultural dimension, it was noted that the widely adopted short-term mood boosters that contributed to depict HCWs as "healthcare heroes", while offering recognitions in the short, can obscure the human needs for support, especially in contexts where mental health is still perceived as a stigma across society (43). Even if some progress has been made in removing the barrier to seeking psychological support in coping with workrelated stress (40,41), a cultural change is still needed for the stigma (42).…”

Lessons Learned From The Prevailing COVID-19 Pandemic

“…That is say that no human organ or tissue is immune to its attack directly or indirectly. 1 In accordance to the Worldometer's Live Update on COVID-19 data, as on Dec 06, 2021, COVID-19 is affecting 222 countries and territories and worldwide total COVID-19 documented total cases are 266,326,934 and total deaths are 5,274,252. 2 Bangladesh documented 15, 77,720 cases with total deaths 28,005 just on the 6th Dec, 2021.…”

“…Following the lessons derived from China, the best global integration is meant for curtailing transmission (like restricting from social gatherings, universal mask use, frequent hand washing with use of hand sanitizers and prompt detection of new cases and spread that is contact tracing) along with enforced restriction on international tours and travels. 1 While there remain many unknowns and uncertainties regarding the control of future pandemics, based on what we have learnt from SARS-CoV-2, we can deduce the following recommendations: 1. Adequate future preparation and planning can tackle unpredictable future pandemics and disasters better.…”

The NCSBN 2022 Environmental Scan: Resiliency, Achievement, and Public Protection

“…In many places, the health system implemented innovative responses such as the expanded use of telemedicine, virtual care platforms and remote patient monitoring, shifting of select services from inpatient to outpatient settings or the office into the home, workflow redesigns, reconfiguration of delivery systems to accommodate repeated surges of COVID-19 patients, scaling of testing, tracing, and vaccination capabilities, adjusted staffing models, and implementing electronic health record changes to reduce the burden of order entry and documentation (ASPR TRACIE, 2021 ; Balser et al, 2021 ; Wei et al, 2021 ). Atrium Health, a large nonprofit system that spans three southeastern states, created a “virtual hospital” to care for SARS-CoV-2-positive patients at home.…”