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As a busy primary care doctor, here is what I am facing

Conditions

January 15, 2021

“Doctor, how are you doing?”

I’m really so grateful when people take the time to ask this. But when I respond, candidly, that it’s been tough and I’m definitely not doing great, I often hear, “But you haven’t had any patients who have died from COVID, have you? And you got the vaccine, didn’t you?” Fortunately, no (not yet) and yes.

My heart goes out to our ICU, inpatient, and ER teams …

The adaptive unconscious, the physician, and AI

Saira Nasar, MD

Tech

January 15, 2021

Being an internist, the day is filled with problem-solving. The problems are often not straightforward and require thinking, rethinking, reevaluating, and reading up and researching before the problem can be solved. However, when a sixth sense, an intuition kicks in that warns us that something needs to be addressed urgently even when we cannot specify or articulate why.

Once I had a patient come in for shortness of breath that is …

The consequences of the coronavirus pandemic are eternal

Earl Stewart, Jr., MD

Conditions

January 14, 2021

She was rather calm during her visit. It was the first time we’d met, and she was establishing primary care with our office and me. We were both delighted to learn she was from a small Georgia town not too far from where I previously practiced, and we quickly reminisced about the slow pace, lack of certain resources, and genuinely good, devout people that often stem from and still reside …

It is not enough to say we are anti-racist. We must address glaring disparities in treatment.

Jane Gagliardi, MD

Policy

January 14, 2021

Sometimes structural racism surfaces in a way that even those of us who would like to be “color-blind” cannot help but see.

In the spring of 2020, the video-recorded death of George Floyd (who was Black) at the hands of a law enforcement officer (who was white) brought millions of witnesses to the kind of hostility that is all-too-familiar to individuals of color. Individuals, many non-white, took to our nation’s capital …

Upholding the principles of informed consent in the fight against vaccine hesitancy

Iris Kulbatski, PhD

Conditions

January 14, 2021

Experts have taken to social media to quell misinformation and address common concerns about Pfizer’s messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine, performing an important public service in support of robust vaccine uptake. However, some scientific information is being oversimplified to the point that it is misleading. The public’s decision to take a vaccine whose long-term risks are unclear should be a well-informed one. Clear communication is crucial to the process of …

An unexpected COVID-19 vaccine side effect

Andrew Wilner, MD

Conditions

January 13, 2021

Introduction

Today, I had my second shot of the Pfizer vaccine and suffered an unexpected and unreported side effect. That’s the problem with a new medical treatment; you never know what might happen.

Transformation

Just a few seconds after the needle penetrated my arm, I felt a mild soreness, kind of like a flu shot. But as I sat for the required 15 minutes of observation time, a wave of something engulfed my …

COVID malaise, and more COVID-19 coping tips from the trenches

Alissa Kraisosky, MD

Conditions

January 12, 2021

I write this now as both a time capsule and a vision of hope at the bitter end of 2020. At this point, a COVID-19 vaccine (the vision of hope) has been developed by several companies but has not yet received widespread distribution. Realistically, I know we are in for more quarantines, social distancing, and mask-wearing for at least another 9 to 12 months (sorry!).

My clinical work in psychiatry has …

Reducing death from COVID-19 pneumonia before widespread vaccination

Richard Levitan, MD

Conditions

January 11, 2021

When the pandemic hit the U.S. – we were caught off guard. We were uncertain about how COVID-19 spread or how it killed. But amidst the chaos, health care providers have learned how to better care for infected patients today. Since March, we’ve learned that surprisingly simple actions can make a significant difference in both containing COVID-19 and improving patient outcomes.

For example, we now know mask-wearing, social distancing, and limiting …

How transparent were the COVID vaccine trials?

Daniel Hopkins, MD

Conditions

January 10, 2021

On March 2nd, 2020, as New York State announced its first proven case of COVID-19, a federal court there handed down a stunning decision. For 10 years, according to the court, the United States government illegally failed to hold drug companies accountable when they did not report, or inaccurately reported, crucial data about their drugs’ safety and efficacy.

Between 2007 and 2017, the court held, the Food …

Why states need to develop rural health outreach programs

Ashok A. Jagasia, MD, PhD

Policy

January 9, 2021

Disparities in rural health care have been well established with respect to socioeconomic status, race, and geography. COVID-19 brought these disparities to the surface within most rural communities in the United States, highlighting the limited access to health care specialists and subspecialists.

As an otolaryngologist, I have had the privilege and unique opportunity of serving two different communities: Chicago’s city dwellers and …

The side effect of the COVID vaccine that no one is talking about

Tuere Hughes-Kapenzi, MD, MBA

Conditions

January 9, 2021

7:42 a.m.: I got my first COVID vaccine today. I don’t feel a thing and almost wonder if I really got the injection. Then, within the first few minutes after receiving it, I feel a little lightheaded. But I realize I haven’t eaten yet for the morning. Luckily, the employee health staff had given me a water bottle, which I quickly down (after sanitizing my hands) and waiting my 15 …

Thriving in residency: tips for your personal, financial, and professional lives

Devesh Vashishtha, MD

Physician

January 9, 2021

The reality is just setting in: I’m months away from finishing my family medicine residency! I want to yell it from the mountaintops, but let me also channel my elation into some advice. This is for the next generation: all you phenomenal DO and MD students who are on the cusp of becoming physicians.

In deciding where to rank highly, I cannot overstate the value of being …

The dangers of selective empathy

Anonymous

Education

January 8, 2021

I go to medical school with a girl who is universally disliked, perhaps more than anyone I’ve met before. It began innocuously enough: She was too active in the group chat, too pushy about ordering class jackets, this and that.

In lecture, she barked out obscure answers like “Saturday Night Palsy” with physical force; her petite body careening forward in her chair, her class-jacketed hand spearing into the sky. But did …

Read more…

The dangers of selective empathy

Medicine is failing rural Americans

Michael McCarthy

Policy

January 8, 2021

In recent years, the divide between rural and urban areas of the United States has become more pronounced, with sharply divergent views on both social and economic policies. The results of this latest election show starkly that the divide persists, and indicate that the institutions that shape our nation are not successfully representing all portions of society.

One of those institutions appears to be medicine. A sign of this is how the public …

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Medicine is failing rural Americans

The R-word takes away people’s humanity

Al Etmanski

Conditions

January 7, 2021

Some of you may have heard it on the playground. Others might have used it in jest. I’m not going to write it. I’m just going to call it the R-word because it’s that disgusting.

It’s a slur against people with intellectual disabilities that you will see peppered in many news stories.

NFL player Janoris Jenkins was cut from the New York Giants for using the word; Khloé Kardashian promised to “do …

Read more…

The R-word takes away people’s humanity

It’s time to revisit the 4 R’s of the doctor-patient relationship

Gerald P. Corcoran, MD

Physician

January 7, 2021

“We have met the enemy in medical education, and he is us!”

My paraphrase of the “philosophy of Pogo” is pertinent to today’s crop of graduating medical students. We have inserted them into the most toxic environment for learning medicine, ever.

Dr. Michael Halberstam once stated that the most powerful treatment the ER had to offer (after CPR, of course) was “the sight of your own doctor at the bedside.” Yet look …

Knowledge is power: Why science and health literacy matters

Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

Physician

January 6, 2021

As a physician epidemiologist and former public health official, I’m constantly struck by the sheer amount of disinformation that spreads related to COVID-19. I’ll routinely encounter myths about how masks actually cause viral spread. Or I’ll be told that drinking alcohol or raw, unpasteurized milk combats the virus or that putting hot pepper in food wards off viral illnesses. Meanwhile, conspiracy theories about 5G networks …

The historical medical significance of carrots

Michael Hefferon, MD

Conditions

January 5, 2021

An excerpt from Medical Myths: A Sceptic’s Journey.

Most people have heard the joke about rabbits and vitamin A: “Are carrots good for your eyesight?”

Well, I never saw a rabbit wearing glasses!

Vitamin A, one of the essential groups of vitamins, is …

Unpacking the timely need to address the lack of diversity in medical media

Trisha Kaundinya

Education

January 5, 2021

Multifaceted diversity continues to be a challenge to achieve in medicine, which is concerning given the irreplaceable value that a diverse community of clinicians provides to research, patient care, and medical education. Current initiatives to expand diversity are centered around academic mentorship models, in which striving to teach more students the life sciences and frontiers of biomedicine as early as elementary or middle school can provide critical exposure and pique …

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