Medical Profession: Back to Normal

As the country attempts to get back to something resembling normalcy from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic, the medical industry is struggling with how to return to general healthcare while continuing to manage the greatest public health challenge of the past century.

Although every business has had to make changes as states move through different phases of reopening, the healthcare industry has faced the unusual task of making uniform changes to protocol without the advantage of an enforced hiatus in which to make those adjustments. Moreover, most healthcare professionals have been working harder than ever as a majority of the country has been at a standstill.

Maybe the most important thing for healthcare professionals to remember is not to let their guard down as they return to their practices and specialties. As the demands of treating Covid-19 patients lessen, healthcare workers must remain vigilant to keep this disease from peaking again.

Some states such as Arizona are already feeling the effects of loosening restrictions with an onslaught of new cases and a need to activate emergency plans in their hospitals. The reality remains that the precautions taken by the healthcare industry to curb the spread of the virus will probably have to remain in place until we develop an effective vaccine. Since optimistic projections for a vaccine target the spring of 2021, it’s abundantly clear that getting back to normal for healthcare workers means incorporating any changes into their long-term plans.

One of the first things that healthcare workers will have to decide is which non-urgent procedures to schedule. For offices such as dental practices, getting back to normal essentially means adjusting to a greater volume of appointments. By now, they should be accustomed to wearing PPE and taking extra precautions for any emergency procedures performed over the past couple of months.

On the other hand, the first order of business for many healthcare practices will be to figure out which non-urgent procedures to prioritize. The challenge for doctors and nurses will be to weigh a procedure’s benefit against a patient’s risk of contracting coronavirus and its complications.

For the time being, physicians will probably stick with less complex procedures that involve less risk. For instance, scheduling minimally invasive spinal surgery will be easier than a cervical spinal fusion.

For obvious reasons, telemedicine has exploded since the start of the outbreak. While it is not a new concept, it has taken on much greater importance as healthcare pros look for additional ways to treat people while minimizing the risk of coronavirus exposure. With the aid of either a smartphone, laptop, iPad or a desktop computer with a camera and a microphone, telemedicine enables patients at remote locales such as their home or office or even their car to access medical experts without having to travel. In addition, it offers nearly the same level of care and attention as a face-to-face visit with a specialist.

For example, it allows health practitioners to offer remote wellness consultation programs in which they dispense advice about things like nutrition, stress reduction and meditation wherever they are located. Indeed, health and wellness centers that depend on face-to-face interactions are turning to alternative treatments until people feel safe returning to their offices.

Many parents are understandably concerned about how to access important pediatric care during the pandemic. Fortunately, early research suggests that children with COVID-19 infections tend to have milder illnesses in comparison to adults. However, there are still many reasons to remain cautious. If children have the disease but are asymptomatic, they could transmit it to adults within the household.

The primary challenge for pediatric health care clinicians is how to keep healthy children from visiting healthcare facilities for nonurgent reasons while continuing to treat newborns and infants for preventive care. While telehealth visits can help, they cannot take care of all health-related issues, especially ones that are time-sensitive. If an infant suffers from a head shape abnormality for example, treatment is critical during the child’s first year. In this case, in-person visits to an expert who treats infant cranial disorders would be unavoidable. If the proper protective measures are taken, however, pediatricians can effectively reduce the risk of exposure while still ensuring that infants and children are up to date on their exams and screenings.

One of the big questions as the industry prepares to treat people for conditions besides coronavirus is whether patients and healthcare workers will be willing to return. In other words, will people reengage in healthcare or will they avoid it for fear of contracting the virus. For example, someone in need of physical therapy for a sports injury may prefer to put up with the pain or hope that it heels on its own instead of entering a healthcare facility. Or people planning to undergo cosmetic treatments such as spider vein therapy or laser liposuction may just forgo the procedures altogether.

In addition, some healthcare professionals may be reluctant to return to an environment in which there is a decent chance of exposure to COVID-19. In reality, many facilities remain understaffed because workers are on medical leave or are taking care of family or are simply not comfortable in the current environment. An occupational or physical therapist may determine that the added risk isn’t worth returning to the workforce. As a result, he or she may decide that this is the right time to pursue other opportunities.

In order to provide effective healthcare, cities and towns need to develop and maintain accessible and efficient testing strategies. The only way to curb the coronavirus outbreak is through constant testing and tracing of the general population. If we can monitor the spread of the virus in our communities, then healthcare workers will be able to adjust their treatment and practices accordingly. Essentially, healthcare systems need to form a collective effort with state and local governments to plan for a long-term health emergency.

Thus, the global pandemic has forced healthcare professionals to realize that they've learned a great deal about caring for individual patients but very little about public health and the care of populations. In essence, COVID-19 has been on-the-job training in public health for the entire industry. And while it’s tempting to think that we are out of the woods as the virus declines in some states, we cannot become complacent with what we’ve learned so far. The practices we’ve adopted to care for and protect our populations must remain in effect as we frantically search for a vaccine. While social distancing, frequent hand washing, and face masks may seem like an unnatural way to conduct our lives, they must remain an integral part of our daily routine if we are to keep this scourge from reemerging in our communities.