Orchestrating performance of healthcare networks subjected to the compound events of natural disasters and pandemic.
Nat Commun
; 12(1): 1338, 2021 02 26.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1104491
ABSTRACT
The current COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the vulnerability of healthcare systems worldwide. When combined with natural disasters, pandemics can further strain an already exhausted healthcare system. To date, frameworks for quantifying the collective effect of the two events on hospitals are nonexistent. Moreover, analytical methods for capturing the dynamic spatiotemporal variability in capacity and demand of the healthcare system posed by different stressors are lacking. Here, we investigate the combined impact of wildfire and pandemic on a network of hospitals. We combine wildfire data with varying courses of the spread of COVID-19 to evaluate the effectiveness of different strategies for managing patient demand. We show that losing access to medical care is a function of the relative occurrence time between the two events and is substantial in some cases. By applying viable mitigation strategies and optimizing resource allocation, patient outcomes could be substantially improved under the combined hazards.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Delivery of Health Care
/
Health Facility Administration
/
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
/
Health Facilities
/
Natural Disasters
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Nat Commun
Journal subject:
Biology
/
Science
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41467-021-21581-x
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS