“Could COVID-19 be an opportunity that brings the plight of health care professionals finally to the forefront? Protect us so we can protect you. Do your part and stay home. Flatten the curve to give health care professionals a chance. Donate PPE. Donate food. And yet through this war, we, health care professionals, along with the entirety of humanity, are united …
The field of medicine is always changing. In fact, half of what students learn in medical school will either be wrong or outdated five years after they graduate. As future physicians, medical students must learn to adapt to these changes. In fact, the medical school curriculum itself has evolved greatly over the years. In addition to basic science, pharmacology, and clinical medicine, curriculums now include content …
“We are grateful to be avoiding the need to use draconian measures for resource allocation. We have been afforded the blessing of lead-time here in Los Angeles and have the chance to learn from other parts of the world, as well as other areas within the United States. We are preparing our personal protective equipment, re-organizing team structures and hospital workflow, …
The Podcast by KevinMD is now on the Health Podcast Network. Fifteen minutes a day, seven days a week. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app.
“We are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s already very clear that the infection prevention community in the U.S. has never faced such an enormous challenge. We have learned many things that will make us better prepared for the long term.
We are far too reliant on single-use disposable products. Having a large supply of cloth surgical gowns and …
“People remember stories in your speech. The rest fades away.
I learned that pearl of wisdom from studying great literature and telling personal stories, and now teach it to students of speech. Who can forget the stories of The Iliad and The Odyssey having once read the books or heard of these tales of Homer? And when I want to tell a …
“Being a parent in the middle of a pandemic is not easy. Sheltering in place with canceled daycare, school, and college, while also being a doctor or other healthcare worker, working in high-risk, high-intensity situations, presents many challenges. It also presents many opportunities.
It is possible to choose thoughts about being a physician and a parent during the COVID-19 situation that can …
“I often heard as a child that Mexicans were lazy and dirty. As a Mexican-American, I did not wear shorts for years despite the heat because I thought my knees looked dirty. Now I fully embrace my identity. However, as a medical student, I still feel the pressure to disprove these stereotypes.”
– Camila Hurtado
“Growing up in the barrio, my white classmates would tease and bully the brown Latino kids constantly. …
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the dysfunction of our health care systems, from dramatic racial disparities in mortality rates to the abuses of health care workers. As a health care staff working on inpatient floors during the pandemic, the medical system’s inequities have never been more clear — and they hurt the safety of both patients and health care workers.
A few years …
“Many physicians are looking for alternative sources of income and are looking for ways to diversify their investment portfolio from the volatility of the stock market. Some have heard of real estate syndications, but what exactly is a syndication? For those who have not heard of it, real estate syndications can be an attractive investment vehicle for busy professionals who do …
During clinical training, medical students worry about caring for patients, learning how to do procedures, memorizing drug interactions, and documenting their work in the electronic medical record —they shouldn’t be worried about paying medical bills at the same time. Shortages of personal protective equipment and the subsequent dangers of working in health care permeate the news and threaten our ability to overcome the COVID pandemic. However, there is another often-neglected …
“Each patient I have seen over these four decades has made me a better doctor. Books do not impact long term memory the way a real patient can. I once heard the chair of medicine at a teaching hospital say that the worst thing about being on call every other night as an intern is missing half the patients. I now …
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the structure of many people’s households has changed dramatically. Young adults who were away at college had to return home when schools closed, and many will still be at home this fall as schools continue to limit on-campus classes. Some people chose to move in with family after job loss strained their finances. And some families chose to temporarily move older relatives out …
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A quarter of the physician workforce in the United States consists of international medical graduates (IMGs). This year 4,222 non-U.S. citizens matched in first-year residency positions. I am an IMG from Guatemala, where I completed medical school. In March of 2014, I matched to an internal medicine residency in the United States. The road has been both satisfying and challenging, with all kinds of uncertainties. I have always been attracted to …
“We know that the past two months haven’t been easy. We know about the sleepless nights, anger, tears, depression, and anxiety. We know all of this because we know what trauma does to a person, and you are in the middle of experiencing a repeated trauma. The trauma of watching patients die in ways you’ve never seen, the trauma of watching …
Born in the United States of America to Nigerian parents, I was raised in Nigeria and returned to the U.S. after medical school for residency training. I have practiced medicine in Chicago, IL for 25 years, and like many others, have had to deal with microaggressions and racism within and outside the workplace. However, this article is not aheabout outlining my personal experiences. This is a call to action to …
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The warm rays of the sun serenade me as I drive to work eager to begin another shift. I find a parking spot on the first floor of the garage don my N95 mask and walk towards the hospital. First, I must stop by at the neighboring building and have my temperature checked. Today it is 97.3. I am awarded the sticker for the day; my boarding pass into the …
“The COVID-19 pandemic has upended health care, with telemedicine emerging as a strategy to reduce risk exposures for patients and clinicians. Video visits, in particular, can be effective for many types of clinical care and offer convenience and savings for patients. As care shifts to this virtual modality, however, there is a risk of jeopardizing the meaningful human interaction that is …
One of the last things my dad said to me before he passed was, “remember to always look at the big picture.” He said this many times throughout my childhood and teenage years, but it never quite resonated until I was thinking about it in retrospect.
As I near the end of my intern year, my dad’s words hold true. As an emergency medicine resident, I am often running on adrenaline. …
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“Faced with the prospect of not being able to provide all COVID-19 patients with the life support that they may need, physicians and nurses are working in conditions that have been described as ‘hell.’
How are providers to cope with the trauma they are experiencing in New York and Italy, and presumably other nations as well? How are they to cope with …
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