Assistant Professor

The COVID19 pandemic has engulfed the world and critical conversations are occurring on best medical practices, public health guidelines and future therapeutics to aid those infected and society in the aftermath. While much of the focus addressing the aftermath has been centered on vaccinations and/or a cure, the “second tidal wave” of patient inflow may prove to be in the mental health realm. Awareness much like that which is being raised with government and pharmaceutical interests needs to also include immediate needs of patient mental health following this crisis. Some COVID19 diagnoses in the severe category require immediate ICU care (Bhatraj et al., 2020). While a large percentage of this subpopulation may recover from their physical diagnosis, many of them will likely have lasting mental health impacts, as the mental health link regarding physical health and mental health of inpatient survivors has been well-established (Bienvenu et al., 2018; Huang et al., 2016; Jackson et al., 2016). This connection is important to be aware of-for both medical physical healthcare providers and mental healthcare providers.
This presentation will focus on the “second tidal wave” of Covid19 treatment, or patient inflow with mental health diagnoses. Many of the Covid19 survivors will likely have lasting mental health impacts, as the mental health link regarding physical health and mental health of inpatient survivors has been well-established.