Overview
I attended the Coronavirus Preparedness Summit & Workshop. The conference was held from 17th to 19th June 2020 in Washington, DC. Presentations were done online due to the pandemic. The conference targeted all stakeholders in the healthcare system responsible for the improvement of public health. Governments and states’ health departments, physicians, health professors, nurse managers, nurse students, and the CDC officials were part of the guests who attended this online event. The meeting increased my nursing skills in that I learned new strategies that can be applied to contain the spread of covid-19. I also had a chance to understand the epidemiology of the new coronavirus strain, its symptoms, and remedies that can be used to suppress its impact. My professional relationship was also affected in that I met many influential people in the healthcare industry.
Problem
The main topic of discussion was covid-19. The key question was, “how are healthcare systems prepared to handle the covid-19 pandemic?” Covid-19 was discovered in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Since then, the disease has spread to the rest of the world. It has impacted the healthcare systems and the world economy at large. By May 2020, Covid-9 had killed more than 900 health workers in the US, reducing the number of healthcare professionals per 1000 patients. The healthcare organizations have also been overwhelmed by the disease in that most of the ICU beds and other beds meant for covid-19 patients are full. Healthcare organizations cannot admit other patients, but covid-19 cases have been increasing. Therefore, the meeting was organized to find solutions to minimize the effects of the pandemic on healthcare organizations.
Solution
The following are recommendations agreed by professionals during the conference as a way to reduce cases of covid-19 among healthcare workers and decrease the burden on organizations:
- Healthcare organizations should use other staff, such as housekeeping, to clean and disinfect covid-19 wards to allow certified healthcare professionals to concentrate purely on providing care.
- Home care should be encouraged for asymptomatic patients to avoid overcrowding of healthcare facilities. These patients should also be educated on how to care for themselves to avoid spreading the disease.
- Healthcare professionals, especially frontline workers, should be trained in handling protective gear to prevent them from making mistakes and end up infecting themselves.
- Lastly, healthcare professionals should advocate for better insurance coverage to improve care access when they are infected while on duty.
Opportunity
An opportunity highlighted in the conference is the need to create awareness about the healthcare profession, especially nursing, to increase youths’ interest in pursuing the course. Covid-19 showed that healthcare systems lack enough healthcare professionals to care for patients. The conference also highlighted the need for the healthcare industry to have a say in political issues because this can help them in policymaking. The conference met its goals by identifying the problem and recommending solutions to solve it. Some of the skills learned in the conference include communication, leadership, and interprofessional collaboration skills.