#CHESTChat: Critical Care Providers and the COVID-19 Pandemic—Present and Future Challenges

April 29, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed tremendous strain on critical care systems and care providers in a way not seen in the history of our profession. Our skills as clinicians are being tested daily, even as we struggle with the physical and emotional weight of our responsibilities. While we hope that another pandemic will never occur, we are also realists.

The question before us is now is how we can apply our experiences going forward as we anticipate the relaxation of isolation guidelines and the fall influenza season. Sometimes it can be difficult to take stock of our situations while in the midst of the struggle, but there is value in pausing. Shared collective experiences are teaching tools that help us face the unique professional and personal challenges that this pandemic has posed for all of us.

In this month’s #CHESTChat, we invite all critical care front-line clinicians to share their experiences and insights in dealing with the professional, mental, and emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Join us on Wednesday, May 6, at 8 pm CT on Twitter to discuss the following topics:

T1: What are the greatest challenges you face in the ICU right now because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how are you managing them?

T2: As an ICU clinician, what are the unique challenges COVID-19 has placed on life outside the hospital? How do you navigate between the two worlds?

T3: What are the biggest challenges you have faced in the management of COVID-19 patients? How have you and your colleagues addressed these challenges?

T4: Once the pandemic subsides, what challenges are we likely to face as we try to re-establish a semblance of normalcy? What issues will present themselves going forward?