“We are not that great.” Gain-of-function research highlights our hubris

Conditions
September 29, 2021

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has made believers out of us. The statements “I believe in science” and “follow the science” express our collective assurance that scientific innovation will continue to serve humanity and sustain us through our pandemic weariness.

Historically, our scientific pursuits have catalyzed both extraordinary accomplishments and unimaginable atrocities. The line between the two is thin and the guardrails that protect against crossing this line are easily corroded. As a …

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When it comes to bias, doctors need to do their homework [PODCAST]

Podcast
September 28, 2021
YouTube video

“I have no doubt, given my extensive experience in health care and being a Black woman in America, that we as health care professionals have made the same mistakes as Chris Harrison with our patients. Instead of listening to and validating our patients’ concerns, we make excuses for ourselves or …

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A prescription against COVID-19: Telehealth and ivermectin

Conditions
September 28, 2021

It’s been in the news that several telehealth companies are offering patients access to the anti-parasite drug ivermectin, which while rumored by some to be an effective treatment for COVID-19 is unproven. As coronavirus deaths in the United States continue to rise, tracking at over 650,000 deaths to date and hovering around 1,500 each day, we need to remain hopeful, of sound mind. Most importantly, we need caregiving and doctoring …

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Dr. Lorna Breen’s lasting legacy [PODCAST]

Podcast
September 27, 2021
YouTube video

“We have a chance to take a meaningful step in fighting burnout and mental health issues in the health care profession. We have lost too many valued and vibrant health care professionals due to an illness that is treatable but stigmatized – including the devastating loss of Dr. Lorna Breen. …

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Our roots are deeply secured and extensive. We hope this storm will pass and not leave us uprooted.

Physician
September 27, 2021

My seven year old has a favorite tree in our backyard. It is an expansive tree with full branches of lush waxy, dark green leaves, providing the best shade on sunny, cloudless days. When every other mature tree was cut down to build our new neighborhood, it was somehow spared, and left to thrive in our backyard. My daughter lies in the hammock under that tree on hot, summer days …

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The doctor is knitting

Physician
September 27, 2021

I gleefully rang in 2021, happy to leave 2020 and its troubles behind.  However, the promise of the new year did not bring the end of the pandemic or its pressures.  As I write this, I am perched on the precipice of another uncertain school year for my children.  The surge in work that the pandemic brought has not ebbed either. For doctors, the pandemic has brought unique pressure to …

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Why pediatricians think about COVID differently

Physician
September 27, 2021

Earlier this summer, the American Academy of Pediatrics made recommendations that contrasted with those from the CDC, emphasizing the need to do everything possible to prevent COVID infection in children. Specifically, they recommended that even vaccinated adults who were around unvaccinated children in schools continue to mask indoors. This more conservative stance initially caused confusion, but the CDC has since aligned their guidelines more closely with pediatricians. Nevertheless, there remain …

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Burnout and bias? Or medical gaslighting? [PODCAST]

Podcast
September 26, 2021
YouTube video

“Five years into my practice as an academic allergist/immunologist, my perceptions continue to evolve. Though once primarily informed by my mentors’ wisdom, I continue incorporating my experiences as both physician and autoimmune patient to guide my practice. Though we all know medicine isn’t like it used to be, nostalgia is …

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The art and uncertainty of triage

Physician
September 26, 2021

Last week, I became involved in two situations of pain between the eyes that seemed to potentially be presentations of very serious medical conditions.

Autumn took a call from her sister late on Friday afternoon. Her sister had been tested for COVID the day before and told Autumn she instantly felt a severe pain between her eyes and developed a nosebleed as soon as the nasal swabbing was completed. The nosebleed …

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A pandemic is not a war. It’s a natural disaster.

Physician
September 26, 2021

The main reason we are seemingly so accepting of lockdowns and vaccine mandates is that we have been conditioned to view a pandemic or an epidemic as a war being waged on our society.

In wartime, we naturally expect civil liberties to be suspended. Likewise, the reasoning goes, during a pandemic we need to act in a unified way under some central command to fight this viral existential threat. Individual rights …

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It’s time to redesign anesthesia care delivery

Physician
September 26, 2021

As we orient our brand-new, fresh-faced CA-1 residents to the operating room each year, I ask this question. Has anyone explained to them that much of what they’ll need to learn in the first couple of months is how to be a nurse?

We watch them struggle to draw up propofol into a syringe without spraying white foam all over themselves. We emphasize the critical difference between a surgeon’s order of …

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What do physicians really want in life? [PODCAST]

Podcast
September 25, 2021
YouTube video

“It is no wonder that in 2020, a Doximity physician compensation report revealed there were no specialties in medicine in which women earned the same or more than men. We can all agree that many things could account for this, including structural barriers and lack of diversity or mentorship. It …

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A physician family’s adoption journey

Physician
September 25, 2021

A few years ago, a Chicago-area fertility clinic ran a series of radio ads at the same early hour each morning. For weeks, I woke to a woman’s energetic voice cutting through the fog of my semiconsciousness, announcing her gratitude to the center’s reproductive specialists. “Without them,” she proclaimed brightly, “my baby wouldn’t have my blue eyes and my husband’s wide smile.”

Ten years earlier, I myself had driven 20 miles …

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3 ways health care leadership can get nurses back at the bedside

Policy
September 25, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to push everyone, especially frontline health care workers, well beyond the brink. Nurses have been exposed to the most trying and difficult predicaments related to the coronavirus, and the stress has taken its toll.

During the most recent surge of cases, rural hospitals across the country have resorted to extraordinary lengths to ensure that adequate staffing is available for the patient spikes. This includes …

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How to close the leadership challenge and end this COVID chapter

Physician
September 25, 2021

The reason that the United States hasn’t been able to reach higher vaccination rates is because of leadership failures. It’s really hard for leaders to lead transformational change during stable times. It’s infinitely harder to lead in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity)-dynamic world, but not impossible.

It’s the timeless leadership challenge.

How do you help the people you lead get from A to B?

This exchange between Fox …

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Our health care system may be failing, but it isn’t broken [PODCAST]

Podcast
September 24, 2021
YouTube video

“The problem with health care isn’t ‘fixing’ the system. The problem is continuing to ensure that profits can be made and millions can be employed while better health care outcomes and experiences are achieved.

We won’t find the solution to that problem by embracing the solutions offered by either the right …

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You can’t fix what is already broken

Physician
September 24, 2021

It’s one of the last weeks in December. If it was any other year, I would have realized that Christmas is around the corner, the air would be filled with a different, radiant, joyful kind of energy, and most of us would be focused on all the lessons this year has taught us. Unfortunately, this year is not like any other year. The air feels dense and heavy. You can’t …

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Primary care: the variety and the intimacy of the problems I see [PODCAST]

Podcast
September 23, 2021
YouTube video

“Fifteen minutes for a checkup or urgent problem, thirty minutes for a physical. In the tiny gasps of time in between: Refilling scripts, checking labs, and signing medical supply orders and insurance authorization requests. Maybe lunch. Maybe a chance to get to the restroom if I am lucky. Clicking, always …

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I see you, COVID

Physician
September 23, 2021

I see you, COVID. I see you in the hospitals each day. I don on my surgical cap, scrubs, goggles, N95 mask, and gown. Are you there?

I see you in the scared eyes of my patients, in their tears, and in their regrets.

I see you in their cough, gasps for air, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and muscle aches.

I see you when they cannot smell or taste.

I see you when they have …

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