The health care emergency management experience during COVID-19: Lessons from a Pan-Canadian study

The health care system in Canada has faced enormous pressures during the three consecutive waves of COVID-19 response. Without the efforts of emergency management practitioners, the health care system response would have been rendered less effective and less coordinated. This generational crisis not only challenged health systems, but had much broader societal impacts, which will be experienced for years to come. In this article we distill findings from a Pan-Canadian study which speaks to the COVID-19 experience of emergency management practitioners in health care organizations. Based on these experiences, we present the practical implications for emergency management practitioners working in health. From this analysis, it becomes clear that emergency management will have an integral role in strengthening systems following the pandemic