Infection preventionists are reporting increasing outbreaks of healthcare associated infections as the COVID-19 pandemic demands outsized efforts by overworked caregivers.

A Minnesota nurse refused to follow his hospital’s policy on taking scrubs home and laundering them, rather than using hospital-provided scrubs. The hospital fired the nurse, who is alleging whistleblower retaliation. Nurses at the hospital resisted the policy because they did not want to take COVID-19 home to their families.

The coronavirus vaccine rollout faces challenges from logistical supply issues and vaccine hesitancy among healthcare staff and the general public. From a reproductive health provider perspective, the big question is how to handle the rollout and overcome challenges on both the supply and demand sides.

Case management leaders have been navigating another COVID-19 case surge. Angie Roberson, MSN, RN, ACM-RN, director of case management at Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System in Spartanburg, SC, works in one of the worst-hit counties in one of the worst-hit states during the late 2020 and early 2021 surge of COVID-19 that swept across the United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic is coming to a disastrous boiling point in the United States, with one of the nation’s top public health officials predicting a high death toll as the pandemic surges nationwide over the winter months.

In acknowledged underestimates, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports tens of thousands of healthcare workers have acquired COVID-19 and hundreds have died. With CDC guidelines nonregulatory, politicized, and too often ignored during the pandemic, the question arises: Could an enforceable infectious disease standard by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have saved lives during the pandemic?

Research on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on nurses, physicians, and other healthcare workers across the world shows disturbing levels of anxiety, depression, stress, burnout, and suicide. The authors of one study estimate the prevalence of burnout among registered nurses in the United States to range from 35% to 45%.

Approaching one year after COVID-19 began spreading in the United States, case managers are considering how to make the most of their new perspective in 2021 and beyond. The pandemic has shone a light on case management program and healthcare facility weaknesses, but also has brought new opportunities for leadership and advocacy. What can case managers do to maximize these opportunities and avoid pitfalls?

The pandemic exacerbated social determinants of health problems for many patients seen by case managers. Case managers had to find new resources for patients, including aid from the CARES Act.