Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on utilization of healthcare services Analysis

Student Name

Hodges University

Course Number and Title

Professor Name

Date

Moynihan, R., Sanders, S., Michaleff, Z. A., Scott, A. M., Clark, J., To, E. J., … & Albarqouni, L. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on utilisation of healthcare services: a systematic review. BMJ open, 11(3), e045343.

Summary

The primary objective of the study was to determine the extent and nature of changes in the utilization of healthcare services during the covid-19 pandemic. The study used the systematic review design to obtain and analyze data for the research. The study utilized eligibility criteria to determine which studies could be examined to provide relevant data regarding the utilization of healthcare services during the covid-19 pandemic. Studies that were eligible included those that compared utilization of services during the covid-19 pandemic to at least one comparable period in the past years. Services included for comparison included visits, admissions, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Ineligible studies were included those that studied only patients with covid-19 or from single centers. The research included a wide variety of data sources including Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Covid-19 Study register, and preprints. These data sources were searched without language restrictions until 10 August, using detailed searches with key concepts that included covid-19, health services, and impact.

Data analysis was conducted to obtain a scientific perspective of the utilization of healthcare services. The risk of bias was assessed by adapting the Risk of Bias in Non-randomized Studies of Intervention tool, and a Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care tool. Descriptive statistics, graphical figures, and narrative synthesis were used in the analysis. The outcome measures of the study included changes in service utilization between pracademic and pandemic periods. The secondary outcome includes the change in proportions of users of healthcare services with milder or more severe illnesses such as triage scores. In regard to the results, 3097 unique references were identified, and 81 studies across 20 countries included reporting of over 11 million pracademic and 6.9 million during the pandemic. The result of the primary outcome indicates that there were 143 estimates of changes with an overall median of 37% reduction in services, 42% reduced visits, 28% reduced admissions, 31% reduced diagnostics, and 30% reduction in therapeutics. In regard to the 35 studies reporting for the secondary outcomes, there were 60 estimates; the results indicated 45% reporting large reductions in the utilization of healthcare services among people with a milder spectrum of illness, while 55% reported no differences. In conclusion, healthcare utilization decreased by about a third during the pandemic. However, there were considerable variations, and greater reductions among individuals with less severe illnesses.

Relevancy

The article is relevant and important to the study of our health system in that it seeks to examine the utilization of healthcare services such as visits, admissions, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Public health is defined as an organized community effort to address public health by applying scientific and technical knowledge to promote health. Based on this, the primary role of public health is to promote the health of a population which is conducted through mobilization and creating awareness on the significance of seeking healthcare services. Covid-19 is a public health issue in that it affects a significant portion of the population and has increased mortality rates. People with a weak immune system are highly vulnerable to the covid-19 virus, which means that they need to seek healthcare services including vaccination among other relevant health services that can help mitigate the spread of the covid-19 pandemic. Based on the results of the study, it is evident that access to healthcare services in most populations had significantly reduced, and this applies to also populations with underlying mild conditions.

The establishment of the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF) helped in supporting community-based public health programs, which means that these funds could be used by the public health sector to create awareness on the need to seek healthcare services especially the admissions of people infected with the covid-19 virus. While the infection and mortality rates of the covid-19 pandemic were very high, it would be expected that more people sought healthcare services in a bid to reduce the impact of the virus and maintain a healthy population. Also, therapeutic services including health education, counseling, and treatment reduced during the pandemic, an indication that despite the increased cases of mental health such as depression, many people failed to seek essential services.

Reaction

The primary objective of the study was to determine the extent and nature of changes in the utilization of healthcare services during the covid-19 pandemic. Based on the study results, it has been depicted that the utilization of healthcare services had highly declined during the pandemic. It is worrying to see a population that has been hugely affected by the covid-19 virus could not seek healthcare services, and this brings about the assumption that they had no faith with health instructions in trying to reduce the severity of the virus. Most probably it is because there was no treatment for the disease and the progress to develop a vaccine had stalled, making it difficult for members of the public to trust the health institutions with treatments methods that they were unsure of their effectiveness. Regardless of the assumption, the public health department could have made efforts to create awareness to members of the public, encouraging more hospital visits, admissions as well as seeking therapeutic services. Many people suffered from mental health conditions such as depression and PTSD due to the loss of their loved ones, but it is worrying to see that such services were much underutilized in the United States.

References