KevinMD March 15, 2025
Of all the lessons learned from fighting a pandemic, none was more frightening or important than discovering how dependent the system is on how we treat our doctors, nurses, and frontline caregivers.
They were already in short supply, with burnout on the rise, when the pandemic hit. As multiple waves of COVID-19 variants washed over us, frontline health workers stepped in at great risk and personal sacrifice to care for highly infectious patients.
From pop-up ICUs to workarounds bridging shortages of ventilators and supplies, frontline medical workers kept the system afloat using their skills, experience, and ingenuity. They witnessed and managed patients’ pain, suffering, and mortality at a rate not seen in a century. Some witnessed more deaths on a...