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As COVID-19 has swept across the globe, healthcare organizations and frontline workers have evolved their response to the pandemic as new information, opportunities and support become available. With care providers worldwide adapting quickly in recent months, COVID-19 has proven to be a catalyst for healthcare transformation.
On Tuesday, July 21, Philips’ Chief Medical Officer, Jan Kimpen, and Head of the Medical Office for Connected Care, Huiling Zhang, led a discussion with five healthcare leaders and frontline clinicians on “Anticipating the new normal: How hospitals are adapting in the face of COVID-19.” Sharing learnings from managing the first wave of COVID-19 patients and plans to handle the sustained challenges, the event featured insights from:
The pandemic’s tsunami effect across the globe has meant each health system has faced their own unique challenges with patient populations at different times, but several consistent themes have emerged:
COVID-19 is a heterogenous disease. Presenting symptoms – especially related to respiratory failure – have varied widely. Patient populations have been inconsistently impacted, with pediatrics having significantly lower cases than the rest of the population. While they have been following guidelines for best practices, care providers have had to learn at the bedside, adapting as new information and data about patient outcomes and staff risk come to light.
One example of the learning is how to manage respiratory failures of COVID-19 patients. As clinicians gain more experience, they are now more willing to use high-flow oxygen support and non-invasive ventilation approach before engaging intubation and invasive ventilations.
The unprecedented burden on health systems led to strains on all resources, including intensive care unit (ICU) beds, availability of appropriate staff, and access to adequate personal protective equipment (PPE). Technology such as tele-critical care and operational dashboards have enabled health systems to augment bedside teams. Such resources allow health systems to load-balance with telehealth services when there is a surge in one part of the system or relocate patients to where there is open capacity. Virtualized care models also help to reduce the workload for front-line physicians by shifting ownership of activities to other providers, such as having the pharmacy work done directly with virtual intensivists. Additionally, use of tablets help bridge communication gaps between the patient and their families, as well as with the care teams, which reduces clinician exposure and PPE burn.
Because of the limitations of test supplies, health systems had to make daily decisions on which populations should have priority for being tested. By building these criteria into the electronic health record (EHR) on a daily basis, clinicians have regular access to the most recent guidelines, aiding their quick decision-making. Similarly, as concerns arose around availability of other resources such as medications, embedded insights in the EHR on which patients should be prioritized have created easy-to-follow standards of care.
There will be a long road to recovery, but there are several steps the healthcare industry must take in this journey:
The webcast on “Anticipating the new normal: How hospitals are adapting in the face of COVID-19” is now available to listen in its entirety.
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By clicking on the link, you will be leaving the official Royal Philips Healthcare ("Philips") website. Any links to third-party websites that may appear on this site are provided only for your convenience and in no way represent any affiliation or endorsement of the information provided on those linked websites. Philips makes no representations or warranties of any kind with regard to any third-party websites or the information contained therein.
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