EP 400 The Healthcare Industry as a Career in the Wake of the Pandemic

On the news we’ve heard from exhausted, and often frustrated, front line medical workers who have had so much to deal with during the pandemic–lack of PPE,long hours in suffocating garb, a public skeptical of the seriousness of what they face every day and changing protocols as more information has come to light about the coronavirus.  Even before the onset of COVID-19, many reports had surfaced about healthcare providers suffering from burnout, burdensome regulation, squabbles with government and insurance funders and a general disquiet over the career and calling they worked so hard to achieve.  We turn to Dr. Cathy Hung, an oral surgeon, and author of ‘Pulling Wisdom: Filling Gaps of Cross-Cultural Communication for Healthcare Providers’, to help us assess the mindset of doctors, nurses, technicians and allied health professionals in a very difficult moment. We find that even those who have not faced the immediate impacts of the pandemic have seen their practices thrown into a state of flux.  While we have seen quicker onset of some innovations in the face of this medical emergency, like tele-medicine, the fallout from this may well be reflected in the quantity of the workforce going forward and the impact that will have on the quality of our medical care.  

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