After an intensive 'tripledemic' virus season where flu, COVID-19 and RSV all peaked at high rates nationwide, physicians at children's hospitals are actively preparing to take on what could be another round this fall, U.S. News reported May 3.
The CDC set up three new dashboards for RSV, flu and COVID-19 to aid pediatricians in tracking data as the next virus season approaches. Though some physicians during an April 27 U.S. News webinar on the topic of respiratory viruses said they worry about any new viruses that may emerge and are not currently tracked.
Addressing vaccine hesitancy head-on is something webinar panelists — who were all physicians at different children's hospitals throughout the country — agreed will require physicians to have more frequent conversations about in medical settings and perhaps even taking it to social media platforms like TikTok to further disseminate the information and squash misinformation.
Other steps they said could help manage a future surge of viruses in pediatric hospitals include:
- Regular and frequent communication with families.
- Work alongside communities and public school systems to host vaccine clinics.
- Collaborate with colleagues to clearly understand who is in charge of signing off on prescriptions, backing up nurses, taking sick calls and where everyone is working each day.
- Pay special attention to what is happening in medically underserved areas.