Acknowledge the limitations of the system and be wise stewards of resources. Our health care system does not have sufficient resources to manage patients with severe COVID-19 and the “usual” emergencies like stroke, myocardial infarction, ectopic pregnancy, and broken bones.
Disaster planning should include a regional triage system that can take incoming calls and direct emergency medical technicians, ambulances, and private citizens to appropriate facilities and direct those who do not require urgent medical care away from those facilities.
We must incorporate principles from battlefield medicine, because this is a battle, and we are at war. That means there will be difficult decisions. It is better to engage a regional team of experts to create a system for triage and care delivery than for each provider and institution to be forced by a void in leadership to go it individually. We should engage with government and public health officials to optimize both cure and care. Although we are unable to save everyone, we can work to ensure comfort and care for all.
Demonstrate compassion and caring for patients and each other. During the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, we can each channel our best selves to support and protect each other physically and emotionally. Many of us chose ObGyn because it is generally a “happy” specialty. None of us entered medicine to watch people die or to be unable to comfort them, to be unable to allow their families to be with them, to be unable to “do something.”
A crucial part of disaster planning and response is to prepare for the second victims: those of us forced to keep going through our emotional distress because there is no time to debrief and process our pain. Frontline caregivers need support and help now as well as after the surge passes. We need to speak up to ensure there is adequate PPE, creative staffing, and supportive resources to help caregivers process their anxiety, fatigue, and distress.
Take the lead
Every crisis brings both risk and opportunity. The COVID-19 pandemic provides ObGyns the chance to have a louder voice and a meaningful seat at the table as new and creative policies must be implemented at every level. We can use this opportunity to recapture our roles as champions for women and leaders within our health care system.
Critical steps in servant leadership include speaking up with honesty, transparency, and openness; taking risks to disclose inequities, dangerous conditions, and inadequate resources; and committing ourselves to each other, our teams, and the public. When we take these steps, we will be the driving force for a cohesive, reasoned, structured, and compassionate response to the COVID-19 crisis. As we seize this opportunity to lead, we will rekindle our passion for medicine, caring for the sick, and protecting the well. ●