As COVID-19 continues to disrupt the country and more positive cases are confirmed each day, Nurse Anesthetist at the University of Iowa Kendra Ricketts-Tracy reports an uptick of non-coronavirus patients are beginning to return for appointments:
“I think people are now willing to start coming back to their appointments. Before people were cancelling because they were worried about being exposed because so much was unknown, but people are starting to do their regular appointments and starting to have their elective surgeries again. So we have seen an uptick in patients following through with planned surgeries that had to be postponed. I think people are actually following up with and going to the Emergency Room if they need too for more serious things that before they might have been hesitant to come,” says Tracy.
Tracy also states a shortage of personal protective equipment continues to be a concern.