In our workplace , we are seeing the intersection of these societal level stressors on our mostly young female work force , as well as the workplace stress of chronic exposure to danger , staff shortages , longer mandated hours and dealing with PPE . Staff shortages have likely increased financial stress for our institutions , as the costs of traveling nurses and overtime pay rates have skyrocketed . Supply chain issues and particularly the national blood product shortage have imposed additional risk considerations on obstetrical procedures . Unfortunately , despite our desire to be more careful in scheduling procedures because of those shortages , obstetrics is hardly elective . The deliveries keep coming . In fact , despite speculation about a decline in births nationally , we saw an increase of about 8 % in our total deliveries at our hospital this year , breaking our all-time record . This was accomplished with a smaller staff than before , many of whom are still early in the learning curve . We have had to implement policies limiting elective inductions and occasionally timing of cesareans to improve the throughput and reduce inpatient time ( active labor takes less time than induced labor ). Despite concerns about possible negative consequences to medical care , this appears to be going well , although sometimes it has a negative impact on
patient choices . That seems reasonable in a pandemic .
TWO PATIENTS IN ONE
In the beginning of the pandemic , with statistics suggesting a 10 % mortality rate for infected persons over 60 , some of us thought this was the hill we were going to die on . Now , it feels as though most of us are relaxing into a softer long-term relationship with the virus . It seems at times inevitable that we will eventually contract the Omicron version , but less scary if we are all triply vaccinated . The virus is likely to stay with us , and a small percentage of our patients will continue to decline vaccination ( similar to influenza or TDAP ), leading to occasional worrisome clinical courses , but most infections will be unremarkable . We are probably heading into a general relaxation of protocols in most public venues , and it feels like we are in a stable new normal for our health care practices , where we will continue to take appropriate care with masks and cleaning but are much less anxious about our daily lives . It looks like we ’ ll make it !
Dr . Pridham originally practiced OB-GYN and reproductive endocrinology and has spent the past 25 years practicing primarily obstetrics with Norton Associates in OB-GYN .
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