COVID-19 editorial
COVID-19: we need health services researchers in hospitals now
16 March 2020
Why wait until after the disaster has occurred, when we have skills and tools that can be used now to support our health care professionals through the crisis, write Robyn Clay-Williams and Jeffrey Braithwaite in MJA InSight+.
IN comparison with seasonal influenza, which is estimated to affect between 5% and 20% of the population each year, COVID-19 is more highly transmissible. Experts have estimated that between 50% and 70% of the world’s population may be infected by this virus, of which many will die – mainly, older or vulnerable people, or those with prior conditions.
Applying these numbers to Australia, if we estimate that 50% of our population will be infected, and 10% of those people will attend an emergency department (ED), we will have (potentially) an additional 1.3 million patients presenting in Australian EDs over the period of infection. Across NSW alone, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, has estimated 1.5 million people will get sick in the first wave.
Given that EDs are already overstretched – over 8 million patients visited EDs across Australia in 2019 – will our hospitals cope?
Read the full article in InSight+ here (https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2020/10/covid-19-we-need-health-services-researchers-in-hospitals-now/).
This article was originally published by InSight+ (https://insightplus.mja.com.au/).
Professor Braithwaite and Dr Clay-Williams are available for interview, please contact Chrissy Clay chrissy.clay@mq.edu.au
CENTRES RELATED TO THIS NEWS
Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research
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Chrissy Clay, Research Outreach Coordinator
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