The coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted financial markets, taken over social media and remained a consistently hot topic among news outlets, medical professionals and concerned citizens. But how it is affecting you?
This survey, which was conducted March 10-16, asked for the views of clinicians and the general public about the nature of the coronavirus threat and the quality of news media coverage surrounding COVID-19.
To take the updated April 2020 version of this survey click here.
Here are the March 2020 results:
Thank you for participating. To see the results of future surveys, along with the latest news and opinion from the world of healthcare, sign up for my free (and ad-free) newsletter Monthly Musings on American Healthcare.
LOOKING BACK: Results from the February 2020 reader poll
In a previous survey, I asked readers of this newsletter about which voting issues will matter most at the polls. The charts below compare the answers given in 2018 (during the midterm elections) with the new results leading up to the 2020 presidential elections.
*Surprise medical billing and end-of-life care were added as polling options in 2020
Analysis: Consistent with national polling, readers of Monthly Musings rank healthcare as their No. 1 issue with climate change as a close second. Interestingly, the importance of climate change surged among readers from 2018 (when only 32% said it was an important issue) to 2020 (76%).
Perhaps now more than ever, healthcare professionals understand the threat of global warming on local populations. From natural disasters to disease outbreaks, clinicians see the consequences firsthand and understand the urgency of a coordinated response. It’s no surprise we’re seeing the effects of climate change on the agendas of more and more national medical conferences.
Dr. Robert Pearl is the former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, the nation’s largest physician group. He’s the bestselling author of “Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Health Care–And Why We’re Usually Wrong” and a Stanford University professor. Follow him on Twitter @RobertPearlMD.
Kaiser needs to take proactive approach to well equipped providers and staffs for protection. We ran out of masks already. We clinicians in clinic need scrubs with cuffed sleeves to wear under white coat for extra protection. So are MAs and other staffs. we need close monitoring of disinfecting patients room, facilities spaces to reduce contamination and transition.
Stop radiculing or labeling physicians who take more cautious approach as “anxiety, panic”, and putting pressure on those more careful providers to follow the crowds
kaiser takes too strict criteria for the test, isolation recommdation policy. Each facility seems to vary a great degree about their equipment, and preparation, not sure if there’s communication among facilities or regions leaders
See above
Immunoassay test in China cost $2.50. We can order millions. They takes 15 minutes to run. They also show whether the person has been exposed after they have recovered. Which would give us some idea as to how many people have actually had the virus, not just those that are sick with it at the time they’re tested.
The Chinese are able to sell millions of masks. They can ship them out by the container load. We need faster ways to purchase those masks and get them distributed.
It is time for Americans to start using masks in casual everyday life. The reason is, it will slow the transmission of the virus. There is a saying that “Perfection is the enemy of the good.”
And that’s true with this virus. We need to slow the transmission down considerably and hold out for a vaccine.
I want to see Korean protocols for diagnosis and treatment used in the US.