Thought I'd share some of the points I highlighted during my talk for @Assoc_Anaes#WSM2022 along with some links for those that are interested.
The Good: The UK research response
The Bad: Misinformation
The Ugly: Impact of COVID on HCWs, & for our patients (Long COVID)
1/15
The Good:
Research is our exit strategy from the pandemic & @NIHRresearch have supported the UK to deliver address many of the clinical questions posed by the pandemic. For a detailed timeline of things they have supported, do take a look at nihr.ac.uk/covid-19/nihr-…
2/15
The Bad: Misinformation.
We often view misinformation as a phenomenon of the internet age, but many of the techniques used to influence us were identified decades before.
In 2018, I visited an amazing exhibition @deyoungmuseum highlighting this fact.
4/15
In 1937, research at the Institute for Propaganda Analysis @Columbia identified ways in which we are influenced:
- card stacking
- name calling
- glittering generalities
- transfer
- testimonials
- bandwagon
- plain folks
5/15
Sounds familiar?
6/15
How can we counter the misinformation surrounding us. Important to acknowledge that this can be hard work.
7/15
The Institute for Propaganda identified several ways to help defend against it:
8/15
There is much current research in this field & academics from psychology and sociology such as @Sander_vdLinden have much to teach us:
9/15
The Ugly: the impact of the pandemic on HCWs.
COVID has been tough on HCWs in anaesthesia and ICU and many of our community are not OK, which is entirely understandable when you consider what we have experienced:
10/15
but we also need to remember that....
11/15
The Ugly: Post-acute COVID syndrome / Long COVID.
Data from COVID wave one in England show:
12/15
These and other data led us to developed @HEAL_COVID to try and discover therapies that improve hospital-free survival over the first year people are discharged from hospital. We are open at 103 sites & have randomised >980 participants so far:
13/15
Being alive and out of hospital is not the only outcome that matters. @PHOSP_COVID have shown:
14/15
Thank you to @Assoc_Anaes for asking me to share some of my COVID thoughts with you this morning, which I hope have at least been thought-provoking, if not informative!
15/15
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There is a crisis in clinical academia in the UK. We talk of the need to expand medical schools, embed research into the NHS to improve care, & the importance of a vibrant life sciences sector for the economy of the UK, & yet we seem unable to tackle the underlying issues 1/9
Research requires researchers, which come in many shapes and sizes. We have increased the number of NHS Consultants over time, but we have not increased the number of clinical academics in hospitals, & the situation in primary care is even worse. 2/9
📈the no. of researchers requires time, £££, training schemes that support people to develop the skills needed, & a system that aligns incentives with the outcome it claims to want (more research). Not everyone can/wants to be a researcher, but we need to value those who do. 3/9
I know that almost no-one in the UK wants to hear this, but the number of people being hospitalised who are +ve for COVID is increasing again (before anyone asks - we are seeing people admitted because of COVID, & not just incidental cases) 1/6
Whilst the number of COVID +ve people in hospital has risen substantially in recently, there has as yet not been a similar increase in the number of people requiring invasive ventilation, suggesting that vaccines are still reducing severity & the therapies we use are helping 2/6
Two years on we all want the pandemic to be over (I know I do), but no amount of wishing will make it so. We live in an interconnected world - whilst things are better in the UK than they have been, the same is not true everywhere & the pandemic is not over. 3/6
..opening multiple hospital sites & enrolling our first patient in <4.5 months. Not RECOVERY trial fast, but quicker than I ever imagined possible for a trial like this. None of it would have been possible without amazing support & engagement from a multitude of people....
..many of whom never get the credit they deserve. So on the eve of #ICTD2021, I thought I might highlight some of the lesser-known heroes & their contributions to getting us this far.
Thought it was time for some perspectives from the bedside about the state of the COVID pandemic in the UK. The strain on the healthcare system is increasing daily, & what we are facing is in no way the same as that we face every year. These are not usual winter pressures 1/n
No other winter have I had to comfort exhausted colleagues who have no idea how they can keep going for even another day. No other winter have I needed to tell relatives via telephone that their loved ones are dying & the entire family cannot be there. It is heartbreaking 2/n
The narrative that COVID is not a real pandemic & the restrictions are not needed is vile and pernicious. It is often accompanied by comments that “it only affects x” type of people & the rest of us shouldn’t be inconvenienced. Where do we draw the line about who matters? 3/n
This quote got me thinking....there are other examples of illnesses where available vaccines have not eradicated the disease because health/well-being is not as simple as vaccine=>problem solved...... 1/6