Healthcare Transformation in the Post-Coronavirus Pandemic Era

The effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic globally are striking as it impacts greatly the social, political, economic, and healthcare aspects of many countries.The toll of this pandemic quantified with human lives and suffering (1), the psychosocial impact (2), and the economic slowdown (3) constitute strong reasons to translate experiences into actionable lessons, not simply to prevent similar future crises, but rather to improve the whole spectrum of population health and healthcare delivery.This is the third coronavirus (CoV) outbreak of international concern in 20 years, after the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) and the Middle-East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV), in addition to other viral outbreaks such as Zika virus and Ebola virus over the last decade.It becomes clear that infectious diseases should be considered among the most important health hazards that we will need to continue facing in the foreseeable future (4).Thus, the transformation of various aspects at the individual as well as the societal and governmental levels seems inevitable.The COVID-19 pandemic has become a reality check for many aspects of healthcare systems, especially regarding their overall readiness.Public health surveillance programs and available infrastructures were shown as not consistently optimal (5-7).Additionally, healthcare systems appeared unable to absorb and manage sudden and persistent pressures on their workload especially in the settings of acute care.Even though contingency plans were often in place, healthcare systems seemed unable to cope with the sudden, intense surge in demand (8,9).From a policy perspective, potential delay(s) in committing to major decisions, such as lockdown measures, in an "epidemiologically timely fashion" could significantly impact downstream healthcare outcomes (10,11).The latter is of particular importance, as healthcare challenges in one country should be considered both an internal and a potentially global challenge, at least for infectious diseases (12, 13).Finally, the speed at which a global public health issue translated into a financial downturn, affecting many different industries, was underestimated (3, 14).The COVID-19 pandemic acts as a transformation catalyst, accelerating the implementation and adoption of changes in public health interventions.Thus, a new model of healthcare delivery emerges with more emphasis on preventive measures, remote care, and substantial technological dependence.However, these are juxtaposed against ongoing technical challenges to meet the surge capacity in laboratory testing, the fast-tracked implementation of new technologies, the mental health concerns, the ethical concerns on the potential rationing of insufficient resources, and the protection of privacy and personal data during times of crises.Taking the former into account, the following aspects seem likely to emerge as most affected in the post-COVID-19 era. SHIFTING GREATER PATIENT NUMBERS TO REMOTE CARERemote care or telehealth services were already used in emergencies, crises, and routine care previously (15, 16).During the COVID-19 pandemic, their wider utilization has accelerated.Telehealth services have now been used in the large-scale screening of patients prior to their visit

Abstract licence: CC BY

1. 11.

   Improving Implementation of eMental Health for Mood Disorders in Routine Practice: Systematic Review of Barriers and Facilitating Factors · 2018

2. 20.

   Smartphone-enabled video-observed versus directly observed treatment for tuberculosis: a multicentre, analyst-blinded, randomised, controlled superiority trial · 2019

38 more references, whose wording the paper’s licence keeps private.

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.