The United States might very probably experience a “tripledemic” this winter, with instances of COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) on the rise at the same time.
As per CBS News, the simultaneous spike in cases of three distinct viruses coincides with an increase in the number of healthcare professionals leaving the sector for better-paying or less physically and emotionally taxing jobs, which might further imperil the nation’s already strained health care system.
“I am concerned that hospitals and health care providers would be overwhelmed,” said Dr. Celine Gounder, a CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for Kaiser Health News. We anticipate extremely high rates of both influenza and RSV, resulting in approximately 35,000 hospitalizations per week due to these two illnesses alone.
COVID-19 is still present, of course. “Will we be prepared? Will the beds be available? I’m quite worried about that, “Gounder added. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccination is now available for RSV, a common respiratory virus that causes cold-like symptoms but can be severe in newborns and older adults.
Recently, an increase in RSV incidence among infants and toddlers has overburdened pediatric institutions. Children are especially susceptible to having severe symptoms due to their immature immune systems and smaller airways, which make it more difficult to breathe when inflamed.
The health care system is also contending with a diminished labor force as a result of a mass emigration of health care personnel during the epidemic, primarily due to burnout. This implies that the remaining nurses, doctors, and administrative and support staff must shoulder even greater responsibility.
According to the health care business intelligence firm Definitive Healthcare, over 330,000 medical professionals left the work field in 2021. “It’s an even more challenging scenario, with even more understaffing, leading to even more burnout and departures,” said Gounder.
Some of the physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other providers abandoned their positions in order to retire early, while others sought administrative work and stopped seeing patients.
“Therefore, there are a variety of methods for reducing burnout and achieving a better work-life balance,” said Gounder, who acknowledged that the past few years had been particularly difficult for people. Gounder stated that she is already observing the effects of insufficient staff on patients seeking care at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital.
“Patients wait a day or two in the emergency room for a bed because it’s not enough to have a physical bed; you also need doctors, nurses, and other people to a man that bed,” she explained.
“The entire system is currently extremely jammed,” she continued. During the so-called “Great Resignation,” employees from a variety of industries quit their employment in quest of better pay and working circumstances.
According to Gounder, there is no apparent remedy or evident means to entice more experts back into the medical industry, and while increased pay wouldn’t hurt, it wouldn’t solve the problem either.
She stated, “I believe that people today place a completely different value on their time, and that would necessitate a complete rethinking of the business model of health care, including how we structure health care, how we provide it, and who provides it.” I am somewhat skeptical that we will implement these modifications.
