As I was running into the grocery store, I couldn’t help but take a moment to look at the light, the candy cane border, and the bell ringers stationed in front of the door. For a moment, I felt like I was in some dystopian Hallmark movie. I looked at the bell ringer’s eyes since that’s all I could see due to the masking of COVID. However, at that moment, …
In his seminal 1977 Science magazine article, “The Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine,” Dr. George Engel outlined the biomedical model’s limitations and proposed a new model, which he termed the biopsychosocial model. The biopsychosocial approach systematically considers biological, psychological, and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and healthcare delivery. In many ways, this approach sounds so intuitive …
Health care is making progress on the “social” in the biopsychosocial model
Can you tell the difference between an “anti-vaxxer” and a “vaccine-doubter”? An anti-vaxxer will outright deny and reject vaccines and may be quite rigid in their views. In contrast, a vaccine-doubter understands the importance of vaccines but has many valid inquiries. The latter may be more accepting of meaningful discourse, so here I am, trying to have a conversation with a vaccine-doubter.
The world is in the …
What this physician says to vaccine-doubters
In Finland, lawmakers recently voted to make an existing ban on female genital mutilation more explicit by outlining punishments for such manipulation under the Finnish criminal law. This bill’s passage was widely applauded as it furthers the global efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM). While the bill received majority support in the parliament, a contentious debate ensued around an amendment in the …
Why male circumcision should be delayed
Amidst the abundance of coverage of the 2020 presidential election mixed with an evolving pandemic, here is a news story you may have missed: it’s 2020 and guns are more popular than ever in the U.S. According to data from Small Arms Analytics to date, Americans have purchased nearly 17 million guns in 2020. This is more than any previous year on record. Handgun sales increased …
A record number of guns were sold in 2020: Should we be concerned?
While the current COVID pandemic has created serious health challenges, there has been a dramatic increase in research examining the effects of vitamins on COVID infections. Many studies report the positive effects of vitamin D in boosting our immune system and protecting against COVID. Studies and seminars have shown that for those people who do not receive vitamin D from outdoor sun …
The FDA should consider vitamin D as a pharmaceutical agent for COVID
We officially now have the vaccine and have begun to immunize the frontline workers at our hospital with the COVID-19 vaccine. And since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine emergency use authorization and a second vaccine from Moderna, there’s more hope for an end to the global pandemic. This specific batch of vaccines sent to …
A heartfelt thanks to the COVID-19 vaccine trial volunteers
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. …
A cozy COVID Christmas: Finding hope and joy in darkness
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 …
There needs to be a better approach to victims of sexual violence
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, …
A letter to Black America for those who do not want to take the COVID-19 vaccine
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 …
Should health care students receive the COVID-19 vaccine?
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 …
We finally have a COVID vaccine. Now what?
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 …
Schizophrenia: They are on an island of their own
ADVERTISEMENT
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 …
Teenagers, sleep, and the global pandemic
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 …
When it comes to weight stigma in children and teens, let’s meet in the middle
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 …
It’s time to address the shadow pandemic of intimate partner violence
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. …
Utilize a baseline test to uncover COVID brain fog
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 …
Why this physician will get the COVID vaccine
Over coffee and the usual banter in the doctor’s lounge, a group of physicians takes a break from seeing patients after donning off their PPE. The TV is blasting the news, largely ignored, until the focus turns to the COVID-19 vaccine. The newscaster announced that the first group to receive the vaccine would be health care workers. Everyone stops talking; all gaze at the wall-mounted screen. And it …
What worries this physician about the COVID-19 vaccine
He was a healthy 36-year-old paramedic with a loving wife and an adorable little boy.
Jim loved his job. The rush, the adrenaline, the blaring lights through downtown hurrying to get to the major hospital. Cardiac arrests, gunshot wounds, tragic auto accidents, respiratory arrests, CPR, compressions, starting IVs. Speaking to the ER physician en route to the hospital to give stat meds for V-tach, SVT, delivering a baby. Anything and everything. …
During the pandemic, many health care workers won’t be home for Christmas
Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.
