Pandemic + End of year deductible = increased volume

We had paused elective cases for seven weeks during March and April.

This means that we only did cases that were deemed urgent enough not to wait.

Not that many people wanted to come to the hospital.

Not that most people weren’t afraid of us.

For those 7 odd weeks that we only did the urgent stuff, all the others were placed on the backburner, so to say.

They would be rescheduled when the cases opened back up.

And they did.

But what about the people who were ill and deliberately did NOT seek care.

The odd appendixes that were painful but all of the sudden felt better.

For a month.

Or all the people who did not go to the doctor during lockdown.

Which meant that their ailments, be it cancer, or hernias, or joint issues, or all manner of things, were NOT diagnosed.

And that meant that they got sicker and sicker.

And are now showing up on my schedule.

Sick as a dog.

Ill, ill, ill.

This leads to a delay in diagnosis.

This leads to a delay in care.

This leads to the operating room, which is not staffed to run more than 1 room after 1900.

Is, at times, now drowning.