COVID-19-Pandemic

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Influenced the Practice of Pathology?

Covid-19 and its link with Pathology

Covid 19 was the doomsday disease that made everyone realize the importance of good health, financial knowledge, and family and friends’ love.

Covid 19 was an alarm everyone needed, especially the pharmaceuticals and medical practitioners, which made them realize the importance of technology upgradation and logistics.

Pathology proved to be a crucial sector during the covid 19 pandemic. Pathology involves the study of diseases and their diagnosis with the help of diseased samples. Pathology is a blooming sector nowadays.

Covid 19 and its effect on Pathology 

The Pathology department and industry started preparing for covid 19 even before the world knew what Covid-19 was.

When the disease broke out in China, the world pathology departments were instructed about its severe repercussions, and they started finding the cure.

The samples were transferred, and the labs were operating for more than 9-12 hours daily to find the cure. They began converting the new lab for practice and finding the medication as soon as possible.

During the first wave of covid -19, citizens put enormous pressure on the pathology department for quick results and better treatment. Less efficiency, false results, less supply of medicines and beds and non-performing government plans were some of the backdrops everyone faced.

Covid 19 opened new possibilities of research and findings for the pathology industry, such as recent advancements in technology, more efficient medicine and better functioning of hospitals.  

Covid 19 has also put some severe assessments for the practice of pathology. It has to focus on improving the hardware used for home computing.

Various startups and ventures are providing home testing technology and online results. According to a survey by a national agency of India, most of the home collected surveys by the newly founded startups and ventures have proved to be less accurate and primarily biased.

Sending online copies of reports in pdf or csv has significantly increased the chances of online information theft and data violation. As announcements contain necessary contact details and sometimes biometrics, it’s easy for hackers to use malware.

These resources in an emergency are helpful, but the pathology community needs to think broader and develop standard operating procedures.

The pandemic also showed the readiness of companies to go digital. The study showed that only 35% of the institutions went digital to perform tasks and procedures, and the rest were still operating using the old contact methods. 

Future of Pathology after Covid-19

The future of pathology is very bright after covid 19 pandemic. Pathology companies and pathology la software showed the world that they could rely on and trust them by introducing vaccines.

AstraZeneca which proved an effective booster against the covid 19. The pathology department worked tirelessly in the introduction and supply of vaccines. Covid 19 vaccines were the fastest vaccines to be introduced in a pandemic, where it took 4-5 years to train a vaccine in other pandemics.

Pathology, along with biomechanics, is developing medical robots for conducting operations and research and developing more efficient and effective machines for the operations. In the pre-pandemic model, pathologists reviewed slides through a microscope. Now, the video calls and discusses remotely.

Digitalized pathology has promise for the future. We should take a moment to appreciate all the laboratory and administrative functions that continue to keep pathology services functioning and all those providing diagnoses under challenging circumstances.

A robust digital interference system will be beneficial for them to tackle the post-period and help in clearing the backlog of all three waves. There is still an indication of the fourth wave in many European and Asia Pacific countries, but pathology, along with medicine and government, can stop it from its roots.