Conditions and Diseases

Physicians writing on KevinMD about the diseases they treat and the people who have them: cancer and its screening arguments, pain and the drugs that treat it, diabetes and the obesity argument, mental illness and who gets treated for it, and the decisions at the end of a life. Five maintained records draw on this archive: Cancer: what physicians say, in their own words, Opioids: what physicians and pain patients say, in their own words, End of life: what physicians say, in their own words, Diabetes and obesity: what physicians say, in their own words, and Mental health: what psychiatrists and physicians say, in their own words.

Thoughts from the COVID-19 front lines

Anonymous

March 26, 2020

I am an internal medicine physician directly taking care of patients admitted to the hospital who are COVID-19 positive or those who are being tested for COVID-19. Last week, my hospital created a special team dedicated to taking care of these patients. During that time, the hospital was eerily quiet: the ED no longer had patients lying in stretchers, and the inpatient medicine teams were carrying half of the patients …

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Thoughts from the COVID-19 front lines

Your only option is to stay home

Maryam Ghiassi, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

This is the first time in modern history that humanity is facing a common adversary. As much as Uncle Harry might want to blame the Chinese for this misgiving, it will not change our predicament. The fact is that this time around, our enemy is stealthy, small, and everywhere. We can’t dehumanize, shoot it down, hate it, or send our drones to take care of it. When the enemy finds …

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Your only option is to stay home

A pathway for the inevitable and imminent need to unite the world

Andrew M. Harrison, MD, PhD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

Pestilence has fallen upon modern society. For thousands of years of written history, humanity fights and inevitably wins battles against infectious diseases. Although the war against pathogens shall likely continue for as long as humanity exists, our current conception of modern society may not. Modern society must evolve, imminently.

I refer to the novel coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is the cause of the disease …

5 things that should change in medicine after COVID-19

Jonathan Peters, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

As I sit here nervously reading the news and awaiting my next shift at the hospital tonight, I cannot help but wonder what the world will look like when the coronavirus pandemic passes. While I cannot predict when this will be, or how much more damage this outbreak will cause, I do know that medicine will never be the same. Here are some thoughts on what could change and the …

Doctor’s Day 2020 will be unlike any other

Clarissa Barnes, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

Doctor’s Day is March 30, 2020. Usually, it is celebrated simply. Recently, it means if you work for a health care organization, they may give you a gift, or they may have a special meal in the lounge. Personally, I am grateful for that recognition. Some of my favorite work jackets came to me for Doctor’s Day. Usually, I take the time to appreciate how lucky I am to be …

Protect your health care workers. Protect your front line.

Aakanksha Asija, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

As schools, public transport, gyms, restaurants, libraries, playgrounds shut down, and life comes to a standstill, people stay at home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Healthcare workers, however, do the reverse. They get ready every morning to go to hospitals and clinics to take care of patients, putting themselves and their families at risk. In some regions of the world, they work extra shifts, sometimes with inadequate …

The cacophony of the COVID-19 crisis

Ton La, Jr., MD, JD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

ICE is requesting bids for 45,000 N95 masks

Why is ICE soliciting for masks when our frontline health care workers need them? There is no social distancing during detention and deportation, and what ICE is doing puts the public at risk. We should immediately suspend detention and deportation for the time being!

Health care workers forcing to take PTO to self-quarantine

When PPE (personal protective equipment, e.g., face masks and gowns) are in …

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The cacophony of the COVID-19 crisis

Coronavirus is America’s Chernobyl moment

Damian Caraballo, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

In the HBO miniseries Chernobyl, there’s a scene where one of the supervisors, Dyatlov, is told there has been a breach of the nuclear reactor. When he hears that their radiation detectors are maxing out at 3.6 Roetgen, he casually responds, “3.6 Roetgen … not great … not terrible.” He was obviously wrong. The United States is currently in a 3.6 Roetgen moment with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We …

I’m a physician and I’m not a hero

Pooja Yerramilli, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

Upon walking through the revolving door that guards the hospital’s main entrance, I was ushered by security staff to join the queues of my peers, also seeking passage to their respective posts.

“The new policy,” the officer explained, examining my hospital ID to confirm that I am, indeed, an employee. Visitors are no longer allowed.

“Please sanitize your hands,” another instructed me, as he pointed to the neat rows of surgical masks …

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I’m a physician and I’m not a hero

I can only compare COVID-19 to 9/11

Jarret Patton, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

These are tremendous times that we have never faced before. A novel virus, lack of preparation time, and a healthcare system that already runs at near capacity, we have a disaster of epic proportions on our hands. What can we do? What should we do? How can I help even if I am not on the front lines?

Many of you are waging war on the front lines: the hospitals, clinics, …

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I can only compare COVID-19 to 9/11

I am an anesthesiologist. I am preparing to potentially die for you.

Britney Bowling, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

I am an anesthesiologist. I am trained to stay calm when everything surrounding me is going downhill. In the OR, I am the anchor. The steady hand, the ready plans. I work with skilled CRNAs who are an integral part of the team. We do critical care medicine every day. We don’t run from the chaos. We are always ready to fight the good fight. We don’t scare easily, but …

A retired physician wonders whether to rejoin the fray

Richard Plotzker, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

Many moons ago, in the 1970’s era, when no imposition from physically brutal on-call schedules to laudable scut to demeaning attendings was outside the boundaries of the house staff training curriculum, our leaders informed us that we were being introduced to the worst-case medical environment. That familiarity with setting aside our own creature comforts would enable us to save patient lives when the circumstances demanded our resilience.

Not quite two years …

The many firsts of coronavirus

Simran Malhotra, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 26, 2020

We are health care workers. We are doctors, advanced care practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and so much more. We are on the frontlines. We are our parents’ children, and we are parents to our young children. For the first time, we are at an extremely high risk of being quarantined by the same beast we are trying to conquer. We are experiencing moral distress, guilt, and frustration, knowing our …

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The many firsts of coronavirus

COVID-19 and the power of prayer

Louis Profeta, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 25, 2020

Prayer is a funny thing. I guess it’s like an N95 protective mask to guard you against COVID-19. You don’t realize how valuable and precious it is until you’re without it, and sadly we are all running low. For the past 25 years of my career as an emergency physician, I bet my partner Dr. Jaime Harper and I have passed by them on the droplet isolation precaution carts a …

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COVID-19 and the power of prayer

Now is not the time to vilify doctors

Jenny Hartsock, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 25, 2020

Doctors used to be heroes. We used to be universally respected. Our opinions used to mean something. And now? Now the president of the United States goes on live TV and vilifies us. Pointing the finger, shifting the blame to us as the reason you can’t go to the bar and watch the game, or go to Disney World, or get drunk every day on spring break at the beach. …

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Now is not the time to vilify doctors

The next pandemic will be in mental health

Najma F. Hamdani, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 25, 2020

I had my first full day of telemedicine today. Telemedicine is my happy place. For the last two years, I have provided telepsychiatry for a rural facility in my home state. I had the privilege of talking to my patients in their homes today. I was beyond humbled that my patients embraced the change with me and invited me into their homes. As I saw them in their homes …

How Ebola prepared me for the COVID-19 pandemic

Jeri Sumitani, PA-C

Conditions and Diseases

March 25, 2020

I decided to write this note because I am grieving. I am grieving for those infected and affected by the coronavirus pandemic, of course. But the deepest grief I feel right now is for my fellow healthcare workers who I know will be going through their toughest days in the next few months. I hate that so many of you will be forced to go through this experience, …

Physicians are disposable and are taken for granted

Anonymous

Conditions and Diseases

March 25, 2020

Doctors are begging the public for basic protective equipment. Us. The United States of America. Supposedly the most advanced, most privileged nation in the world.

We are in a pandemic dumpster fire. There has been no centralized movement to tackle this escalating threat. Every hospital, city, county, and state has been left to flounder on its own. I’m not the only one who’s noticed we’re completely floundering, right? Doctors …

An urgent dispatch from the COVID-19 frontlines

Amy Cho, MD, MBA, Mark Pappadakis, DO, Theresa Tassey, MD, MPH, Sunny Jha, MD

Conditions and Diseases

March 25, 2020

We are physicians. We are experts at triaging and prioritizing action. Our decisions mean the difference between life and death. We regularly balance competing interests in the setting of constrained resources. We fight hard for our patients. Our job has been likened to “walking through minefields in clown shoes.” It breeds humility. If we make a bad decision, the unthinkable happens. And we are frequently reminded of the fragility of …

The pandemic is bringing us home

Anonymous

Conditions and Diseases

March 25, 2020

It began last week in our neighborhood, between the locals, who, out for a breath of fresh air, and dutifully in line with the new social distancing rules, began to shout back and forth through the crisp March air.

“Good morning! I hope you’re well!”

“Good morning! We’re well! I hope you are, too!”

Then goodwill took over the neighborhood email chain.

Who needs a casserole?

Just let us know! We’ll drop one off at …

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The pandemic is bringing us home