Conditions

Relax documentation requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions
March 27, 2020

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced several measures guiding the care of patients during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Another important action that will immensely help the health care workers at the forefront is to reduce the documentation requirements for all patients. Health care workers should be unshackled from endless documentation, freeing up their time and resources to take care of the increasing number of …

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In the midst of COVID-19, triage is a four-letter word

Conditions
March 27, 2020

In my career as an outpatient family physician, triage is not something that I commonly do. But now, with the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, it seems the large percentage of my day is spent in triaging patients. And I have to say, I don’t really care for it. (This is an understatement. I’m trying really hard not to use other four-letter words in describing how I truly feel.)

In my …

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COVID-19 is rattling the nerves of preemie parents everywhere

Conditions
March 27, 2020

As I write this, hand sanitizers, disinfecting wipes, gloves, and masks are sold out everywhere in the panic over COVID-19. People are writing about increased anxiety, and mental health professionals cite a massive surge in requests for help.  Go anywhere, and it is not unusual to see people wearing personal protective equipment. Welcome to my world 16 years ago when my daughter was born prematurely at 30 weeks’ gestation …

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Mental health and college students: What parents can do to support their children

Conditions
March 27, 2020

The percentage of U.S. college students who are living with mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance, and alcohol misuse, and self-harm are significant. Approximately 39% of college students experience a significant mental health issue. The 2018-2019 Healthy Minds study found that:

  • 36% of the random sample of students from colleges and universities across the U.S. who answered the study’s web-based questionnaire had experienced mild, moderate or major …

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5 things that should change in medicine after COVID-19

Conditions
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 …

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I’m a physician and I’m not a hero

Conditions
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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Physicians are disposable and are taken for granted

Conditions
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 …

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5 ways to manage anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic

Conditions
March 23, 2020

Since the coronavirus outbreak, reports of anxiety have increased, especially among physicians. Physicians face numerous stressors, including fears of contracting the coronavirus, concerns about potentially infecting loved ones, PPE shortages, testing delays, and frequently making quick decisions with limited information.

Common symptoms of anxiety are increased worrying about one’s self and/or loved ones, difficulty sleeping, difficulty eating, poor concentration, increased heart rate, hyperventilation, and struggling to control worrying.

Here are five ways …

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Advice to employed physicians plunging into telemedicine

Conditions
March 21, 2020

As we have literally overnight plunged into the world of telemedicine, I wanted to caution everyone to stop and think about something.

As an avid telemedicine provider, I truly believe in helping support our patients and the public. However, if anyone is an employed physician or medical provider, please keep reading.

If your practice did include telemedicine before, this may be a non-issue. But if it didn’t, you need to ask these …

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Why this immunocompromised doctor wants you to stay home

Conditions
March 21, 2020

I am a middle-aged gastroenterologist almost 15 years out of training. I have a chronic medical disease and had a bout with lymphoma two years ago, both of which require me to stay indefinitely on immunosuppressive drugs.

I am certainly not the only health care worker who is scared. Most winters that I will contract the flu or another illness from patients who want their screening colonoscopies performed while sick, from …

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The worst-case scenario for our hospitals in a severe pandemic

Conditions
March 19, 2020

I wish that I didn’t have the experience of working 34 years as a nurse. I know the big picture in a hospital. A recent article stated that the Twin Cities, where I live, has 500 ICU beds, 450 ventilators. As of last Friday, those were 95 percent full.

Apparently, there are new CDC guidelines stating that healthcare workers can wear surgical masks when N95 masks are not available, but the …

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As society shuts down, hospital workers continue to fight the pandemic

Conditions
March 17, 2020

Collectively across our country, as society shuts down, physicians, along with our brave co-workers in the hospital, will be going to work to combat the largest pandemic we have seen in our lifetimes. While such a crisis frightens us all, it has also served as a soul-renewing time for medicine. Over the next several months, our tribe worldwide will be risking their health and lives to serve and treat patients …

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This pediatrician says no coronavirus break playdates

Conditions
March 16, 2020

Strange times right now, huh?

The spread of COVID-19 is expected to be massive because the virus is sneaky

I live in Maryland, and our schools are shut down statewide due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

That means that since I’m a pediatrician, I’ve been peppered with questions from patients, family, and friends wondering what they’re going to do with the kids for at least two weeks (and, realistically, probably four or more).

They’re all asking …

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A pathologist’s message to the public

Conditions
March 16, 2020

14 years ago, I recited the Hippocratic Oath, and two sections have always stuck with me:

“Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick” and “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment.”

The events over the last couple of weeks have affected me deeply.  Of course, I’m concerned about a novel virus that is infecting and killing people.  But, I’m more …

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I thought COVID-19 was overblown. I was wrong.

Conditions
March 16, 2020

I’ll admit that a month ago, I thought COVID-19 was going to be another overblown SARS or MERS or even H1N1. I talked about it with my friends in the medical field, and we had a bit of a “been there, done that” attitude. But I was wrong, and in the time since, I’ve educated myself as much as possible. This strain of coronavirus is more contagious than the flu, …

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A COVID-19 physician pep talk

Conditions
March 16, 2020

All hands on deck! No one sits this one out. We are all MD/DOs. We all took the same oath, and in unison. Year after year, we graduate as our parents and grandparents shed tears of joy. In those years of sleep-depriving, relationship-straining, self-confidence-trying medical school and residency: We dissected everything.  The human body, the human heart (the non-anatomical one), and even what it means to follow that damn oath. …

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A COVID-19 coronavirus update from concerned physicians

Conditions
March 14, 2020

“Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after will seem inadequate.”
– Michael Leavitt

Why are we writing this?

The COVID-19 pandemic has reached a point where containment is no longer possible. The COVID-19 threat is real, and rapidly getting worse. Many of you are very nervous; some are unsure of the validity of the information you are reading. As physician leaders, we felt it was important to …

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