User:Ebaugher1/Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospitals

Add under North America

Hospitals and other healthcare organizations in North America were unprepared for the Covid-19 pandemic. Many hospitals face a lack of reliable testing kits, ventilators, and PPE. Each of these pieces of equipment is crucial for preventing, diagnosing, and treating Covid-19.

Article Draft
COVID-19 caused nurses and other healthcare workers to have even longer shifts and work more days. In the media, they state that nurses have gained more exhaustion due to working long work hours. Nowadays, there is a higher shortage of workers, which then causes a nurse to have more patients.

One of the biggest alterations hospitals made across the country during the pandemic is visitation rights of the patient. Studies have shown that family support can lead to a faster recovery time and shorter stay. Patients normally feel less anxious in a hospital setting while their family members are present. India Owens realized there is a "reduction in medical errors” when the family is present and able to assist the patient's needs.

In a normal setting, the nurse's job is to assist the patient's needs with medical diagnoses or supporting the family with difficult medical news. Nurses normally play the role of support, but they also have to keep their distance by not getting to close to the patient. Unfortunately, COVID-19 caused patient bedside and family visitation to completely change. Nurses continued to be "a proxy for family and a clinical practitioner" for the patient. In some cases, nurses would be the last person a dying patient with COVID-19 would meet and talk too. Additionally, nurses had a decrease in sleep and greatly alters how the nurses treat/aid its patients. Overtime, the weight of taking care of patients' emotions and life can affect the nurses emotional health too, which ultimately effects the what the hospital can provide to its patients.

Lead
Add Ways around the Restrictions of Covid 19

Article body
Since the restrictions due to Covid 19 are limiting the family members allowed to come into the hospitals, health care workers have found ways to still support the patients using the source of technology. Web-based video conferencing using FaceTime and Skype, along with camera systems have shown benefits in the hospital settings. Another interaction that is missed due to the new restrictions caused by the pandemic are peer to peer support groups. Support groups are used to allow people to understand that they are not the only ones going through something and be able to talk to someone with the same conditions .To find ways around these restrictions there has been the addition of online support groups that can meet at any time and individuals can also post anonymously if they so choose. The hospitals are finding ways around the pandemic to ensure that their patients have the support they need.