key: cord-0074516-nh9sqjdi
authors: Kolokythas, Antonia
title: Greek philosophers -Stoics and Healthcare
date: 2022-02-04
journal: Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol
DOI: 10.1016/j.oooo.2022.01.019
sha: 7bdebd801e9c4fb71af36e75ee2c55eb3fa85e5b
doc_id: 74516
cord_uid: nh9sqjdi

nan

If we learned anything during the last two years dealing with the ever-changing face of the COVID-19 pandemic is that change is truly the only constant. Daily routines, practices, work flows and everything else around us changed not once, but several times and continue to change. Humanity was attacked by an invisible enemy and the losses were unprecedented. Healthcare faced challenges that exceeded our preparedness and perhaps even questioned our situational awareness. Healthcare providers were asked to stretch beyond their limits, adapt to a new change on how we care for our patients and ourselves in the presence of the pandemic, before we could adjust to the previously imposed change. There were more questions than answers about what is coming next. Hospital admissions surges led to shortages in recourses and countries ordering "lockdowns" to preserve capacities of their health care systems. Delays in diagnosis and treatment of other conditions unfortunately contributed to excess deaths in 2020. These challenges should not have been a surprise though given that health systems were found to be the lowest performing area of overall pandemic preparedness by the 2019 and 2021 Global Health Security Index. Other events that should not have been dealt with as a "surprise" is that viruses do mutate and some times faster than our employed means of dealing with the offenders or the diseases caused by them… Well thankfully we did adapt, we became innovative and resourceful, but mainly operating under reactive modes rather than proactive modes. Healthcare was not prepared for a pandemic of such magnitude, we did not see it coming…

The ancient (and modern) stoics practiced Premeditatio Malorum on daily basis, the premeditation of the evils and troubles that might lie ahead. An exercise of thinking ahead and imaging how things can go wrong at any time so we are not caught by surprise. A little under two years since COVID -19 pandemic practically took over our daily activities, economy, education, healthcare etc. the "American Pandemic Preparedness; Transforming Our Capabilities" proposal was released in September 2021. An ambitious proposal that aims to better prepare us for the next pandemic and will require herculean efforts and tremendous resources. The proposal calls for shoring up defenses against a pandemic by seeking to maximize vaccine and therapeutic utilization, sharpening healthcare's situational awareness and emphasizing intergovernmental coordination. Previous such efforts failed short in delivering what they proposed, making this proposal even more critically important in effective and timely response to the next pandemic threats that are the new normal…Let us be stoics and practice Premeditatio Malorum as we prepare for the next big change(s) that is the constant in life [1] [2] [3] .

The Pandemic Preparedness Program: Reimagining Public Health

American Pandemic preparedness: transforming our capabilities

Despite Robust Capabilities and Resources