Impact on Public Health
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health in the US have been large-scale and disastrous. It is yet to summarize all of the effects of the disease in the pandemic aftermath; however, it is already possible to collect some of the subtotals regarding the impacts on public health. Currently, one of the most researched topics is the impact of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases’ outbreaks on the central pillar of the public health system – healthcare professionals. The public health workforce experienced physical and mental health issues and already existing problems with underfunding deepened.
Public health depends on the public health workforce, and the pandemic demonstrated that almost everywhere in the US, the public health workforce was severely understaffed and underfunded. This data is relevant throughout the country and can be generalized to most of the states. For instance, “since 2008, the public health workforce has shrunk by 20%, with 62% of local health departments seeing their budgets flat line, or reduce over time” (Kintziger et al., 2021). Given that, it is no surprise that the pandemic’s new and heavier burden placed on the US public health workforce led to the interruption of essential services and functions provided. This situation resulted from the shift in priorities, activities, and functions of the medical staff across the country – human resources have been transferred to the coronavirus-fighting fronts. As a result, numerous other sectors within general public health have suffered. For instance, in many cases, work on other communicable diseases, foodborne outbreaks, and perinatal diseases were severely interrupted (Kintziger et al., 2021). In terms of general public health, this situation reduced citizens’ access to healthcare services and reduced trust in the sector.
The public health workforce’s physical and mental health is another significant aspect of the pandemic’s impacts. According to numerous studies from all over the globe, public health workers face enormous challenges in terms of mental health issues (Naushad et al., 2019; Preti et al., 2020; Stuijfzand et al., 2020). These included facing post-traumatic, depressive, insomnia, psychiatric, and severe anxiety symptoms. Moreover, more than 30% of healthcare workers who were in direct contact with patients demonstrated long-lasting symptoms of burnout and emotional exhaustion (Preti et al., 2020). As a result, there are issues not only on the individual level but on the broader ones as well. The mental health of healthcare professionals directly influences the quality and quantity of services they provide, affecting the general population’s health creating additional economic and societal costs for communities and nations.
Impact on the Population
Regarding the impacts of the pandemic on the population, in case it is not addressed, the main effect will be on mortality. Currently, due to the efforts of public health institutions across the world, 61.3% of the global population has been vaccinated at least once, which has significantly reduced the potential death toll (Ritchie et al., 2020). If the outbreak had not been addressed, the mortality rate for each country might have been closer to the case fatality rate (CFR), which has varied significantly throughout the pandemic. For instance, according to the study by Hasan et al. (2021), “the weekly global cumulative rCFR of COVID-19 reached a peak at 7.23% during the 17th epidemiological week (April 22–28, 2020).” After that, the rCFR has been declining steadily, achieving 2.2% by December 31, 2020 (Hasan et al., 2021). According to OurWorldInData information (n.d.), it can be argued that the average has been declining further; for instance, it achieved 1.18% in the US by February 4. Unfortunately, there is no data regarding specific cities, states and CFR within those. Despite these numbers, disregard for the COVID-19 outbreak might result in hundreds of thousands of additional deaths in the US alone (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022).
Emotional distress within the population is also a significant factor of the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in the increased social costs. There is a general consensus that COVID-19 significantly affects the mental health and well-being of the general population (Fiorillo & Gorwood, 2020; Twenge & Joiner, 2020). For instance, “compared to the 2018 NHIS sample, US adults in April 2020 were eight times more likely to fit criteria for serious mental distress” (Twenge & Joiner, 2020). That is especially severe considering four groups of population: those who have been in contact with the virus; those who are vulnerable to stressors; health professionals; people who follow the news through numerous media channels. If the outbreak is not addressed, it is possible to assume that the rates of mental health issues in society will only grow as the number of infected increases. Moreover, the number of healthcare professionals directly in contact with the infected will also surge. Finally, the social impacts of the pandemic will worsen due to the higher death toll, as the number of people who lost their close ones during the outbreak will subsequently increase as well.
Nursing Interventions and Action Steps
Nursing care was influenced significantly by the pandemic due to its nature as it implies close relationships with the patient. Moreover, COVID-19 created additional risks in everyday nursing practice and, in some cases, increased nurses’ workflow several times. In these difficult conditions, new procedures, measures, and policies had to be implemented to increase the effectiveness and safety of nursing practices, simultaneously shifting priorities while maintaining high service standards. There are various initiatives concerning different parts of the nursing process that facilitate it and help make it safer and more effective in terms of the final goals.
For instance, looking from the human factor perspective, it is vital to ensure adequate protection measures for nurses. These include uninterrupted access to personal protective equipment (PPE), clear infection control protocols, and relevant training (Buheji & Buhaid, 2020). Another case to discuss includes nursing management practices and their role in transforming hospitals into designated hospitals for COVID-19 patients, as this proved to be an effective COVID-19 containment strategy (Wu et al., 2020). The nursing intervention, in that case, included the design and execution of a four-step contingency strategy. Firstly, it implied setting up designated COVID-19 wards; secondly, technical support teams establishment was necessary; thirdly, it was essential to ensure the availability of reserve nurses in the hospital. The final step implied preparing the training plan to meet all of the requirements (Wu et al., 2020).
To establish the wards couple of rooms and buildings were quickly renovated to comply with the relevant regulations and guidelines. “To ensure normal nursing service in all other wards in the hospital, the nursing department requested each department to nominate 1–2 nurses as a COVID-19 ward backup nursing team” (Wu et al., 2020). Some types of training were identified as the critical ones and were provided to all nurses. These included “COVID-19 hospital infection prevention and control, hospital air purification management specifications, medical institution disinfection technical specifications, and personal protection requirements for disinfection and isolation” (Wu et al., 2020). The results of the successful execution of this strategy were exemplary. All patients with COVID-19 were cured and discharged, no one from the showed any symptoms of the infection, and the other departments of the hospital were able to function without disruption (Wu et al., 2020). Therefore, these types of practical nursing interventions with detailed action plan interventions can be employed in other cases as well.
References
Buheji, M., & Buhaid, N. (2020). Nursing human factor during COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Nursing Science, 10(1), 12-24. Web.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Web.
Hasan, M.N., Haider, N., Stigler, F.L., Khan, R.A., McCoy, D., Zumla, A., Kock, R.A., & Uddin, M.J. (2021). The global case-fatality rate of COVID-19 has been declining since May 2020. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 104(6), 2176-2184. Web.
Kintziger, K.W., Stone, K.W., Jagger, M.A., & Horney, J.A. (2021). The impact of the COVID-19 response on the provision of other public health services in the U.S.: A cross sectional study. PLoS ONE, 16(10). Web.
Naushad, V.A., Bierens, J., Nishan, K.P., Firjeeth, C.P., Mohammad, O.H., Maliyakkal, A.M., Chalihadan, S., & Schreiber, M.D. (2019). A systematic review of the impact of disaster on the mental health of medical responders. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 34(6), 632-643. Web.
OurWorldIndata. (n.d.). Case fatality rate of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Web.
Preti, E., Di Mattei, V., Perego, G., Ferrari, F., Mazzettii, M., Taranto, P, Di Pierro, R., Mededdu, F., & Calati, R. (2020). The psychological impact of epidemic and pandemic outbreaks on healthcare workers: Rapid review of the evidence.Current Psychiatry Reports, 22(43). Web.
Ritchie, H., Mathieu, E., Rodes-Guirao, L., Appel, C., Giattino, C., Ortiz-Ospina, E., Hasell, J., Macdonald, B., Beltekian, D., & Roser, M. (2020). Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Our World In Data. Web.
Stuijfzand, S., Deforges, C., Sandoz, V., Sajin, C., Jaques, C., Elmers, J., & Horsch, A. (2020). Psychological impact of an epidemic/pandemic on the mental health of healthcare professionals: A rapid review. BMC Public Health, 20(1230). Web.
Wu, X., Zheng, S., Huang, J., Zheng, Z., Xu, M., & Zhou, Y. (2020). Contingency nursing management in designated hospitals during COVID-19 outbreak. Annals of global health, 86(1), 70. Web.