What are some of the red flags that should have addressed, that public hospitals like University Hospital should have indicated that the public healthcare system would not be able to respond to the COVID 19 pandemic?
One of the red flags is that nurses doing the testing were to use and reuse the personal protective equipment (P.P.E) kit to test for COVID 19 pandemic. Used PPE’s are infectious and pose a threat to individual health if not scientifically handled and disposed of. This issue required to get addressed in the University Hospital to allow proper handling of the pandemic. Also, the hospital was under financial disarray for many years. According to an audit done in 2013 by the state comptroller office, the hospital led towards a state of insolvency. The hospital management also worked poorly, and subsequent audits indicate that leaders of the hospitals had applied for government money in a lavish birthday celebration of a consultant who did little in improving the finances of the hospital ( Schwirtz, nd ). The hospital workers complained of the patients who had the virus brought to the hospital due to the heavy burden of limited resources. This was another red flag that should have been addressed to be able to respond to the pandemic.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Nurses were overworked and understaffed at their normal working time–nurse’s jobs are demanding and requires caring for not more than two patients at the same time during their working sessions. At the pandemic time, they are tending to more than three at a time, which raises the risk of mistakes ( Willan et al., 2020 ). This was a sign that the nurses would not have the capability to respond to the COVID 19 patients. Another problem in public hospitals is the lack of protective gear. Nurses are wearing mismatched, donated from neighborhoods and friends, or brought from home. This should have been addressed by providing enough kits for nurses, including masks.
2. Is this a true test of our current healthcare system; if yes, why; if not, why not?
Yes, it is a true test of the current healthcare system since most hospitals do not have enough facilities to cater to COVID 19 patients. The government fails to provide a suitable environment for COVID patients and nurses in public hospitals. However, countries must choose to care for these patients and workers working under COVID conditions to offer care to confirmed or suspected patients.
References
Schwirtz Michael. Held Together by Prayers and Duct Tape . University Hospital of Brooklyn.
Willan, J., King, A. J., Jeffery, K., & Bienz, N. (2020). Challenges for NHS hospitals during covid-19 epidemic.
