Anti-Asian racism magnified during COVID-19

Physician
February 25, 2021

The “model minority” is a term that denotes Asians in the U.S.  East Asians, in particular, have been the target of xenophobic hate crimes and microaggressions since the outset of COVID-19. When a former presidential administration used hate and fear to garner power, it does not surprise me, that Sinophobia runs rampant during these times. The NYPD reported a 1,900 percent increase in Asian-American hate crimes in 2020. As an …

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Anti-Asian racism magnified during COVID-19

Lessons about love from the too-often overlooked among us

Physician
February 25, 2021

“Last question,” the woman from the insurance company said.

Good, I thought; I was eager to get back to seeing patients.

“How long have you been taking care of Sarah?”

“I’m not sure,” I replied, “How old is she?”

“She’s 34.”

“Then I have been taking care of her for 35 years.”

“Doctor, I’m not sure you heard me correctly; she is only 34.”

“I heard you perfectly,” I retorted, “She has been my patient for 35 …

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Lessons about love from the too-often overlooked among us

Let us not forget the caregivers 

Physician
February 25, 2021

In her hospital bed, she sat there confused as to what was buzzing around her. Rita was 96 years old and in the throes of dementia and agitation. As her physician assigned to her that week, I remember walking into her room and noticed her elderly husband brushing her hair w an unsteady hand and feeding her chocolates.

“My sweetie loves chocolates,” he states.

Rita, agitated, grabs his arm and throws it …

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Let us not forget the caregivers 

The inestimable value of a mentor

Physician
February 25, 2021

Quick, think of someone unrelated to you who has had a major impact on your life. I’d wager the vast majority of us pictured a face or two, and that nearly all (I hope) represented a positive influence. In my thirty-plus-year career in medicine, I’ve been blessed with several, and their impact on my life and career is truly inestimable.

As a smart kid who went to medical school because it’s …

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The inestimable value of a mentor

How do we address the heterogeneity in vaccine hesitancy?

Conditions and Diseases
February 25, 2021

There is light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel, but public trust in national and global public health institutions is at an all-time low. What happens if folks don’t want to travel to the light?

As the pandemic drags on, the banality of persistent distancing measures and continued calls for social distancing are falling on deaf ears. Cases and fatalities continue to set records. In an attempt to regain …

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How do we address the heterogeneity in vaccine hesitancy?

How do we treat the unvaccinated?  And how can they treat us?

Conditions and Diseases
February 24, 2021

As the challenges to get an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine get harder and not easier, and as the pressure for schools to open their doors for in-person learning, as long as teachers will get vaccinated, rises, the question remains: What about those who choose not to?

In the midst of so many individuals clamoring to get vaccinated, there remain many who will not get vaccinated. Not this week, not next …

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How do we treat the unvaccinated?  And how can they treat us?

6 ways to build trust with communities of color when distributing the COVID-19 vaccine

Conditions and Diseases
February 24, 2021

As a Latina physician on the frontlines of COVID-19, it feels like a race against time to get as many vaccines as possible to the communities of color that are more likely to be infected, hospitalized, and die from the virus. A lot of effort right now is focused on the logistics of managing vaccines that need to be manufactured, stored, allocated, …

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6 ways to build trust with communities of color when distributing the COVID-19 vaccine

This physician misses seeing his patients

Physician
February 24, 2021

As I finished the endless clicking, the clinic day came to a close.

Clicking to begin and end phone visits.

Clicking to get on and off Zoom visits.

The endless video game clicking that is life as a physician documenting electronic health records. Too bad I have never been a gamer; maybe some who are can imagine amidst all of this they are in a scene from a Nintendo or Playstation classic.

Clicking boxes …

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This physician misses seeing his patients

What happens to your child’s brain when you nag

Conditions and Diseases
February 24, 2021

Part of your job as a parent is to teach your children, and there’s no way for a child to learn anything without making a few mistakes. Actually, a lot of mistakes. Sometimes these mistakes can be infuriating. They might be self-destructive mistakes. They might be mistakes that can cause harm to their siblings or classmates. They might be mistakes that happen over and over again. They might …

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What happens to your child’s brain when you nag

A panic attack brought on by the stress of medical school

Medical Education
February 24, 2021

An excerpt from Cured: A Doctor’s Journey from Panic to Peace.

Dead bodies surrounded me. They lay on their backs, supine in medical terminology. I imagined some staring at the white plastic sheets that covered them completely, others glaring at their closed eyelids. Their smell, a mixture of formaldehyde and …

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A panic attack brought on by the stress of medical school

The eradication of polio in the U.S. is truly a testament to vaccination’s extraordinary power

Conditions and Diseases
February 23, 2021

I opened the exam room door and hit something. Peeking around the door, I saw an elderly woman wearing a pink sequined hat who was perched in a motorized scooter parked awkwardly in front of the door.  I slinked around her to my stool and sat down as I introduced myself. I was running behind, but for some reason, I simply said, “tell me about yourself.”

The woman looked directly at …

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The eradication of polio in the U.S. is truly a testament to vaccination’s extraordinary power

3 steps for physicians to shift from stuck to unstoppable

Physician
February 23, 2021

Every physician has had the experience.  The moment you ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?”

It could be when you look into the waiting room where there are more patients to be seen and know if you take a break, it will set you back even further.

It could be on the final stretch of the 24-hour shift that redefined the meaning of the word “nonstop.”

It could be the third time …

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3 steps for physicians to shift from stuck to unstoppable

Enthusiasm over evidence? What the Israeli vaccination data actually show.

Physician
February 23, 2021

Coronavirus vaccines are crucial to taming the pandemic. Everyone should get one. Please, please, get vaccinated.

Now, that’s out of the way—I’m no anti-vaxxer. I am a huge supporter of vaccines and believe vaccination will help bring an early end to the worst global health disaster in modern history.

But there is something strange happening. Media and scientific articles on vaccine effectiveness are increasingly unhinged. Reports are drifting away from science on …

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Enthusiasm over evidence? What the Israeli vaccination data actually show.

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Why healthy aging must be the upshot of the COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions and Diseases
February 23, 2021

Last month, while the world was distracted by political turmoil and the pandemic’s roaring second wave, a very significant proclamation came and went with little fanfare. The United Nations General Assembly launched 2020-2030 as the Decade of Healthy Ageing, calling for a decade of concerted global action to extend the health and well-being horizons of the world’s one billion people over the age of …

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Why healthy aging must be the upshot of the COVID-19 pandemic

Gender disparities in medicine: How popular literature mirrors 2020 society

Physician
February 23, 2021

I’ve been looking for anything to take my mind off of 2020. During these tumultuous times of COVID-19, racial injustice, social unrest, and outright political upheaval, I’ve found myself turning back the clock to one of my favorite pastimes: reading.

As I settled down into my favorite comfy chair on that rainy, quarantine-filled April day, I was reminded of some unsettling themes I’d discovered back in 2012. At that time, I …

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Gender disparities in medicine: How popular literature mirrors 2020 society

Overcome COVID vaccine hesitancy and boost vaccine confidence: How you can help

Podcast
February 22, 2021
YouTube video

This article is sponsored by HERO-TOGETHER, a paid, prospective, observational study of 20,000 adult U.S. health care workers who received a COVID-19 vaccine within the past 60 days. 

With over 27 million cases and 470,000 deaths reported to the …

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Overcome COVID vaccine hesitancy and boost vaccine confidence: How you can help

I fear that I’m not doing the right thing and I do it anyway

Physician
February 22, 2021

I fear that I’m not doing the right thing. You’re trusting me with your life. I hear you telling me that you don’t want me to do what I am about to do. I see it in your eyes, the resentment as you look toward your family. And hatred for me, your physician.

You trust me to care for you as you enter the unit. I tell you I will. You …

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I fear that I’m not doing the right thing and I do it anyway

An open letter to the medical community at large regarding the termination of Dr. Princess Dennar

Physician
February 22, 2021

Deeply entrenched racism, rooted in the foundation of white supremacy, has had a stronghold in medicine for hundreds of years. Its legacy of harm against Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities, particularly its atrocities against Black Americans, is undeniable. Yet significant change eludes us. For decades, these communities have borne the disproportionate burden of public health short-comings from police brutality, gun violence, infant and maternal mortality, and …

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An open letter to the medical community at large regarding the termination of Dr. Princess Dennar

In the emergency department: Patients ravaged by mental illness

Conditions and Diseases
February 22, 2021

The emergency department is fast-paced. Full of chaos. Incredible suffering. Frustration. Disappointment. Screams, tears, smiles. Reassurance. Good news. Bad news. Diagnoses. Failure to find a diagnosis. Getting a last-minute cardiac arrest coming in at 650 a.m., ten minutes before the end of your 12-hour, overnight shift – you have the energy and wherewithal to do the task, but to process the life that was lost? To truly realize the dead …

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In the emergency department: Patients ravaged by mental illness

Maybe we’re not all hanging in there. And that’s OK.

Physician
February 22, 2021

Long ago, in the BC (before COVID) era, I would chat up a local in a foreign country. Their usual response upon learning I was from the U.S. would be to seek clarification on aspects of American culture found most peculiar. There were your usual suspects — the Electoral College, imperial versus metric systems, and why we’re obsessed with the Kardashians — but the most common question was about our …

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Maybe we’re not all hanging in there. And that’s OK.

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