Preparing for a More Public Health-Aware Practice of Medicine in Response to COVID-19

Abstract

After one year in a pandemic, we mourn the loss of over half a million lives in the United States, and over four million worldwide, and remain concerned over the challenges facing the families of 35 million people in the United States, and 200 million worldwide, who have suffered from cases of COVID-19. The public and the practice of medicine has become aware of the field of public health and the important roles of all health professionals in addressing the pandemic [1,2]. Our way out of this pandemic will not be led by public health, medicine, or another field alone. It will take a concerted and coordinated effort, which may thereafter change the practice of medicine to include more components of public health. Involvement of physicians and other health professionals in public health, will involve recruiting, training, and sustaining a workforce that is knowledgeable and capable of addressing complex issues [3]. Recruiting implies bringing practitioners into public health who might have previously been unaware, or insufficiently aware, of the field of public health and the importance of its work. Training implies offering the combination of knowledge and skills that enable practitioners to make important contributions. Sustaining implies training and programs that meet the needs of the present while enabling the continuation of efforts over time.