The Impact of COVID-19 on Patients, Families, and Communities

New National Academy of Medicine Discussion Paper

December 2, 2021

By:

Janet Weiner, PhD, MPH

Print:

Mary Naylor, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Marian S. Ware Professor of Gerontology at Penn Nursing.

It’s hard to put into words the impact of a pandemic that has upended nearly every aspect of our lives. But assessing that impact on patients, families, and communities is exactly what LDI Senior Fellow Mary Naylor and colleagues have done in a new discussion paper commissioned by the National Academy of Medicine. The paper provides a valuable perspective on the health consequences of the pandemic, the disproportionate effects on communities of color, and opportunities to transform our health system into one that can address the short- and longer-term challenges we face.

The paper, Patients, Families, and Communities COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs features quotes and stories of lived experiences to illustrate the wide-raging impact of the pandemic. Here’s just a sample of the paper’s findings, as summarized in two figures below. The paper is well worth a full read.

Source: National Academy of Medicine, 2021.

The discussion paper, Patients, Families, and Communities COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs, was published on November 29, 2021 by the National Academy of Medicine. Authors include Frederick Isasi, Mary D. Naylor, David Skorton, David C. Grabowski, Sandra Hernández, and Valerie Montgomery Rice.