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What does blockchain mean for health care?

Health Technology

December 20, 2020

In 2016, I was at an angel investor’s conference in Las Vegas when I met a certain individual pursuing their MBA at Stanford University.

We got to talking about angel investing, and the term “blockchain” was mentioned.

I asked, “the blockchain: that’s Bitcoin, isn’t it?”

“Oh no,” was their reply, “Bitcoin is only the beginning of what is to come.”

They further added, “the blockchain is going to change the world in ways you …

An introduction to medical-legal consulting

Armin Feldman, MD

Physician

December 20, 2020

As many of you know, burnout is an increasingly serious problem for physicians, affecting over 50 percent of clinicians in some studies conducted before our current COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, in an interesting study, one of every four physicians is looking to do some non-clinical work, in part, to ease the stress of today’s clinical practice.

In one survey just completed, more than 48 percent of physicians reported that since the …

A cozy COVID Christmas: Finding hope and joy in darkness

Erika Maria Moseson, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 20, 2020

We recently passed the third Sunday of Advent. In my faith tradition, that is a day we focus on joy. I write today about the joys of having a “cozy COVID Christmas” and how we can celebrate our respective holidays while minimizing the risk to our loved ones and community.

I am an ICU doctor who has taken care of too many suffering and dying from COVID-19. The loss is staggering. …

There needs to be a better approach to victims of sexual violence

Anonymous

Conditions and Diseases

December 20, 2020

I am a nurse who has worked at a rural hospital. My husband is a board-certified family medicine doctor. In the fall of 2020, I was raped by my massage therapist. I know that everyone has an opinion of what they would do in that situation, and I was probably one of those people. However, to my complete shock (quite literally), I didn’t behave in any manner that …

A letter to Black America for those who do not want to take the COVID-19 vaccine

Erkeda DeRouen, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 19, 2020

I am a Black female physician who entered medicine with the hopes to serve her community. I am “Black and Proud,” in the words of James Brown. I love all of my patients, regardless of their race or ethnicity, but I am not afraid to admit that Black Lives Matter. With all of that being said, it has broken my heart to note that at this moment during the pandemic, …

Racist. Anti-racist. Microaggression. Institutional racism. The power of a definition.

Joy Eberhardt De Master, MD

Physician

December 19, 2020

I find my body tenses at the word “racist.” It also tenses at the word “earthquake.” I ask you to be aware of your body as you read this essay. I suggest wiggling your toes, shrugging your shoulders, and taking slow abdominal breaths.

7:18 a.m. Shift change. The 8.0 magnitude earthquake hits. Nurses, medical students, and physicians improvise care for patients. One public hospital completely collapses. Another’s OB/GYN tower falls, killing …

Why Department of Homeland Security leadership is vital for battling the COVID-19 pandemic

Teshamae Monteith, MD

Health Policy

December 19, 2020

A successful transition from the Trump administration will be essential as America braces itself for record-breaking hospitalizations and mortality due to SARS-CoV-2. Beyond the COVID-19 Task Force of the Biden Administration, new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership will also play a vital role in assuring our health care workforce’s capacity. Recently, the Biden Administration announced Alejandro Mayorkas as his pick to lead …

To Dr. Biden from an MD: Please keep using your deserved title

Karen Tran-Harding, MD

Physician

December 19, 2020

A recent op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal, “Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.,” has sparked a lot of controversy and immense backlash. The author Joseph Epstein, a former Northwestern University professor, first addresses the future First Lady as “kiddo” and continues with “’Dr. Jill Biden’ sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a …

Should health care students receive the COVID-19 vaccine?

Oscar Chen, Dennis Li, David Hong, and Abhi Ganguly

Conditions and Diseases

December 19, 2020

As we pass the one-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic, the long anticipate vaccine is officially ready for distribution. This record-breaking advancement in medicine has been the ray of hope that everyone is eagerly anticipating for. However, with a combination of only 20 million people that can be vaccinated with the first batch of the Pfizer vaccine, resources will have to be allocated to individuals with …

Communication with insurers: a pandemic problem the vaccine won’t fix

Anupama Balasubramanian

Health Policy

December 18, 2020

During COVID-19, I have developed a special dislike for jazz. The dreaded phone call hold—upbeat music paired with frequent interruptions by a robotic voice assuring me that someone will be with me shortly—has become an all-too-familiar sound. Though customer service lines have experienced increasing automation levels for several decades, their inefficiencies have been set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Following the pandemic’s beginning in the U.S. …

We finally have a COVID vaccine. Now what?

Rabia Jalal, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 18, 2020

The past several months have been a very rough journey for so many of us, as we are still in the midst of a deadly viral pandemic that has claimed close to 300,000 lives just here in the United States and thousands more globally. We have seen our frontline workers pushed to their limits. What makes this pandemic even more deadly is the attitude of so many despite the very …

Schizophrenia: They are on an island of their own

Debbie Moore-Black, RN

Conditions and Diseases

December 18, 2020

I knocked on his door. It was 8:30 pm—medication time.

Jerome slowly opened his door. He was easily over 6 feet tall. Towering over my 4′ 11.5″ self. Naked. Eye to eye with his penis.

He chanted, “You ain’t a bitch. You ain’t a ho … you my wife.”

OK Jerome, take your medicine.

I’ve entered a new dimension of nursing.

After 30 plus years as an ICU nurse, I thought I’d ride out behavioral …

Teenagers, sleep, and the global pandemic

Greg Rodden, DO

Conditions and Diseases

December 18, 2020

Sleep is suffering across the world amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The reasons for this disruption are many, but notable contributors include: 1) stress-related to potential illness and decreased job security; 2) less daytime sunlight exposure with the advent of physical distancing and home confinement; and, 3) altered daily routines that tend to push back bedtimes and waketimes.

We hear …

We cannot control what people choose to believe, and we can’t deny what we know

Claire Unis, MD

Physician

December 18, 2020

A few months ago, I quit social media. It was absolutely the right decision for me – I needed my time back. So many little moments of beauty and consideration get skipped when my brain follows one feed after another and loses track of time.

But every now and then, when I have ten minutes to kill, I will check-in. Usually, I go right to a group of women physician equestrians …

When it comes to weight stigma in children and teens, let’s meet in the middle

Karla Lester, MD & Katherine Lester

Conditions and Diseases

December 17, 2020

The divisive reaction to the recent New York Times’ opinion piece by Aubrey Gordon titled, “Leave Fat Kids Alone: The ‘war on childhood obesity’ has only caused shame,” highlights the two extremes in our society’s current approach to addressing the childhood obesity epidemic. While I applaud Aubrey Gordon and her courage to speak her truth, which surely resonates with generations of Americans who have endured the …

It’s time to address the shadow pandemic of intimate partner violence

Gabriele Ruzgas, Elsa Nico, Katherine Thompson, Nicole Zolman, and Shikha Jain, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 17, 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge through the nation, a concerning “shadow pandemic” is quietly growing as well. Many cities and states, including Chicago, are reinstituting stay-at-home advisories and orders to protect communities from COVID-19. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence has been the increase in intimate partner violence (IPV). With the tightening of stay-at-home regulations, the health care system cannot overlook those suffering behind …

Utilize a baseline test to uncover COVID brain fog

Lauren Bennett, PhD

Conditions and Diseases

December 17, 2020

It’s been dubbed “COVID brain fog,” the neurological symptoms suffered by an estimated 80 percent of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19. These are early dementia-like neurological problems that patients face even after recovering from COVID-19, and there is a concern that people who recover from the disease have a higher risk of long-term cognitive decline.

We have always encouraged people age 50 and over to undergo a baseline cognitive assessment. …

10 things parents want their pediatrician to know (from a pediatrician mom’s perspective)

Tuere Hughes-Kapenzi, MD, MBA

Physician

December 17, 2020

Throughout my years of pediatric training and being a mother, I have benefited from viewing medicine from both sides. I have also tried to hone listening to and understanding my patients’ parents and their perspectives. I have listed 10 things that I believe most parents wish their child’s pediatrician knew.

We are just worried about our kids

First and foremost, we are worried about and invested in the health and happiness of …

Why this physician will get the COVID vaccine

Julie Swartz, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 16, 2020

The history of vaccines is a story of profound success. Illnesses that killed hundreds of thousands of people every year are nearly eradicated since the development of vaccines. Illnesses that my older colleagues treated routinely are things I will only hear about when they tell their horrific stories of kids not breathing from epiglottitis or becoming paralyzed from polio. Yes, there have been vaccines that were later found …

Solving imposter syndrome in physicians

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

Physician

December 16, 2020

“I no longer start every day in dread,” Sheila (not her real name) told me as we completed a six-month coaching engagement. Her statement initially surprised me because that’s not how she described her interest in coaching when we began. She had simply and unemotionally told me that she needed a career change and didn’t want to jump into another not-quite-right situation. But as I recalled the time we spent …

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Solving imposter syndrome in physicians

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