Becker's Hospital Review

36 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Viewpoint: No need to clap for healthcare workers — just wear a mask By Molly Gamble J eremy Rose, MD, remembers what 7 p.m. in April once sounded like in New York: city residents rush- ing to fire escapes and balconies with pots and pans, clapping and cheering on front-line healthcare workers as they ended their shis. e celebrations have subsided, in New York and elsewhere, although the risks healthcare workers face have not. In an op-ed for e Washington Post, Dr. Rose said there's another way for Amer- icans to show appreciation right now: wear a mask. "e cheering has stopped. But that does not mean the risk to us has abated. Far from it. e lockdowns have eased, and yet in much of the country the numbers have surged, and more of us are dying," wrote Dr. Rose. He noted that the Kaiser Family Foun- dation, in a project with e Guardian, is publishing obituaries of healthcare workers who have died of COVID-19. "ey're up to 782, a startlingly high figure that most likely underestimates a terrible reality." Although cases of COVID-19 are surg- ing in several states, masking is not yet treated as a universal standard for in- fection prevention. Dr. Rose pointed to pooled data from e Lancet that revealed rates of infection to be almost five times higher for people who did not wear masks. "If you're waiting for evidence that these measures work, you needn't wait any longer." "Healthcare workers continue to die fighting for all of our lives. We all have to assume some responsibility for slowing the spread of this disease. You don't have to clap. But wear a mask. My life and the lives of my colleagues across the country depend on it," Dr. Rose wrote. n 'It's an insult': Nurses from South, West say many there doubt COVID-19 threat By Mackenzie Bean S ome nurses who volunteered to treat COVID-19 patients in New York City re- turned to friends and family in the South and West who doubt the virus is real or underestimate the pandemic's severity, reported The New York Times. The publication spoke with several nurses from Texas, Arizona and North Caro- lina who shared stories of family members ignoring their advice to avoid large gatherings or friends downplaying the severity of the virus. The skepticism is often jarring for nurses who saw firsthand the devastation the virus caused in New York City hospitals. "When someone tells me that they don't believe the virus is real, it's an insult. I take it personally," Olumide Peter Kolade, a nurse from California who spent more than three months treating COVID-19 patients in New York, told the Times. Mr. Kolade grew up in Texas and said several friends have sent him videos pro- moting conspiracy theories about the virus. Tamara Williams, a Dallas-based nurse, also volunteered in New York City. Since returning home, she's run into several acquaintances who said COVID-19 was no more serious than the flu. She's removed 50 to 100 friends on Facebook who were sharing false information about the pandemic. "It's infuriating," she told the Times. "Unless you've seen it with your own eyes, it is very easy to believe it is not that bad." n Maintaining care of patients without coronavirus amid surges: 4 strategies By Anuja Vaidya A s COVID-19 cases rise across the country, it is important that hospitals proactively manage care for patients without COVID-19, five health ex- perts wrote in an article for Harvard Business Review. The experts, a group of physicians and a healthcare delivery systems expert, laid out four strategies for healthcare organizations to make sure they are meeting the needs of non-COVID-19 patients in the midst of coronavirus surges: 1. Outpatient clinicians should identify and initiate telemedicine services for pa- tients who are at high risk of requiring inpatient or emergency care at a hospital to help prevent strain on emergency departments or inpatient beds. 2. Hospitals in a particular region should consider combining essential care ser- vices for noncoronavirus patients at one location. For example, hospitals within a region could create a single designated location for cancer care or transplant services. 3. Hospitals also may consider grouping COVID-19 patients with the same un- derlying conditions in "cohorted wards," so specialists relevant to the underlying condition can provide care alongside clinicians caring for COVID-19 needs. This will help reduce strain on inpatient capacity throughout the hospital. 4. Post-acute care settings, such as nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities and long-term acute care facilities, should join forces to establish regional, special- ized centers for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients to improve patient flow from hospitals. n

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