ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a cascade of events, policy directives, and guidance. The U.S. Military Health System was leading the war, the first time in military history. Fulfilling its military medical readiness and beneficiary health-care delivery missions stimulated innovation. Applying the theory of bureaucratic caring revealed concepts of uncertainty, interconnectedness, choice-making, and emergence as determinants of growth, development, and future state for the Military Health System. New ways of thinking targeting health-care services laid the foundation for a radically different future. This article elucidates application of the theory to the Military Health System response to this global catastrophe. © Copyright 2022 Internatoinal Association for Human Caring.
ABSTRACT
The global COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 challenged primary care nursing as never before. Attention focused mainly on care within the inpatient realm, and guidance for these areas was predicated on existing plans for contingency response. In the primary care realm, few clinics plan for or practice readiness responses;thus patients and staff faced a daunting mission of ensuring continuation of services using nontraditional platforms. This article describes bureaucratic caring theory guidance for readiness activities, basic planning, and resources required for primary care clinics in contingency and crisis responses. © Copyright 2021 International Association for Human Caring.