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Are we letting our hearts rule our minds in the time of COVID-19?

Physician

May 4, 2020

One month ago, I made a video telling people to stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19. Today I’m making a video telling people to not stay home with life-threatening symptoms of other diseases. This is because patients are now more terrified of getting the virus than dying of a heart attack or stroke. I fear that I, and other physicians, in our efforts to warn people about the …

The patient who gave me back my humanity

Andy Lamb, MD

Physician

May 4, 2020

His breathing was rapid and shallow; O2 in place, his eyes stared at the ceiling of the hospital room. He was a soldier in his late 20s, his once strong body now emaciated, a shell of its former self. His arms rested on top of the bedsheet, bluish nodular lesions of Kaposi’s sarcoma landscaping them as they did the rest of his body. His lungs a “white-out” on X-ray as …

False certainty and blanket statements: Not even the WHO is immune

Jesse O'Shea, MD

Conditions and Diseases

May 4, 2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) says there is currently “no evidence” showing that people who have recovered from the coronavirus are not at risk of becoming infected again.

“Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an ‘immunity passport’ or ‘risk-free certificate’ that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they …

Why are medical students non-essential?

David Chen

Medical Education

May 4, 2020

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, medical education is receiving unprecedented attention. By and large, the focus has been on the immediate problem of what to do with medical students. The answer has hinged on medical students being designated as “non-essential” to patient care, and has (for the most part) entailed avoiding clinical activities. A long-term problem that has received less attention is, why are medical students non-essential in the first place? …

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Why are medical students non-essential?

Physician risk during COVID-19: reflections from the AIDS epidemic

Philip A. Masters, MD

Physician

May 4, 2020

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.

If nothing else, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought crystal clarity to something that all physicians are aware of but don’t often think about – that because we deal closely with communicable diseases, physicians (along with other health care workers) are clearly at …

Rebuilding a post-coronavirus culture of medicine

Steven Reames

Conditions and Diseases

May 4, 2020

In a previous article, I have described the physician burnout epidemic as a raging river whose features included safety nets designed to catch people before “going over the falls,” the need to teach individual survival skills (e.g., resilience), evaluating your raft and river guide for safety (employers and their leadership), and so on:

The “rapid” pace of change in the health care industry is so volatile, so …

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Rebuilding a post-coronavirus culture of medicine

Please don’t call me a hero. This is what nurses have always done.

Anonymous

Conditions and Diseases

May 4, 2020

Before becoming a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), I was a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) nurse for decades. During that time, I often saw patients during their greatest time of need – trauma victims, transplant recipients, patients with brain tumors, ruptured aortas, and septic shock. I thought I had seen it all, but working in an improvised COVID-19 ICU has taught me to expect the unexpected, and has required …

A neurosurgeon on call with coronavirus

Joseph D. Stern, MD, PhD

Physician

May 4, 2020

Last weekend, my partner witnessed some of the pandemic’s collateral damage in an upsurge of violent deaths via car wrecks and shootings. A patient of mine, chief of the local SWAT team, had predicted as much: he gave people two weeks at home before they started acting out.

I expected a similar weekend and was pleasantly surprised at how few calls I received by late Saturday night. But it doesn’t take …

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A neurosurgeon on call with coronavirus

Practice social distancing because the lives of your health care workers matter

Ton La, Jr., MD, JD

Conditions and Diseases

May 3, 2020

I was in medical school when the world saw the news of the Zika and Ebola viruses, but never have I seen mass hysteria to this level for COVID-19. No longer is coronavirus what is depicted in a copy of First Aid for the USMLE Step 1, where it says coronavirus is a cause for the common cold. Intense coverage of the virus has been sensationalized to the point where …

Is there opportunity for physicians in the pandemic?

Robert Frolichstein, MD

Physician

May 3, 2020

We are living in unprecedented times that will be pivotal for our beloved profession. In the Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities, the period of time in which the story was set was pivotal in the evolution of society and politics. Our current times may provide the setting that allows physicians to regain independence from the medical-industrial complex that is the current state of the delivery of health care …

Should online shopping include online labs?

Jill A. Monteiro, MD

Conditions and Diseases

May 3, 2020

For $149, you can go online and obtain a “basic wellness” panel of labs. You can see for yourself if you have anemia or diabetes. For another $300, you can sign up for a “premium” package to check out how your liver and thyroid are doing. All of this can be done without even a phone call to your doctor’s office. So should you do it? (For the instant answer, …

Evidence-based methods for the decontamination of N95 respirators

James Chenoweth, MD

Conditions and Diseases

May 3, 2020

This document is meant for information purposes. Please review the CDC guidelines for N95 mask contingency planning.

FDA-approved methods

On March 29, 2020, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for a proprietary hydrogen peroxide vapor (HPV) system for the decontamination of N95 FFR. This system allows up to 20 cycles of decontamination.

In a study performed by the manufacturer of this system, there was …

Social distance, yes, but don’t be afraid of the outdoors

Danielle Reznicsek, MD

Conditions and Diseases

May 3, 2020

I am an ER physician in Jacksonville, FL.

Yesterday, I learned that a top health official in New Zealand was reprimanded for taking his family to the beach. He did this after orders had been given to stay home, and strict social distancing had been mandated. This was not his only offense — he was also reported to have been seen riding his mountain bike. New Zealand’s outbreak has appeared to …

What makes people defy precautions during a pandemic?

Ashten Duncan, MD

Health Policy

May 3, 2020

We are in the midst of an unequaled juncture in history, one in which we find ourselves primarily armed with the ability to distance ourselves physically from one another. In the United States, we have observed on multiple occasions over the past several weeks how some citizens have chosen to defy social distancing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention …

A family physician is redeployed to the emergency department

Anthony Tam, MD

Physician

May 3, 2020

Two years ago, I shared my thoughts on the joy of family medicine. Two years ago, I was a senior resident working in Ann Arbor, thinking about who I will be when I graduate. Two years ago, my biggest worry was if I could finish my notes in time for sign out and meet friends to play volleyball. Today, I come with mixed but honest feelings considering recent events.

As I …

I’m a new doctor, and I’m scared about the other threat to my colleagues’ lives

Mimi Smith

Conditions and Diseases

May 2, 2020

In late March, on what is known as Match Day, graduating medical students like myself found out where we would continue training as residents. This has always been an exciting but stressful time. This year it is more than that. On top of the countless challenges of starting residency, we are becoming doctors on the front lines of a pandemic.

How …

To every physician from the psychiatrists who are here to support you

Nicole B. Washington, DO, MPH

Conditions and Diseases

May 2, 2020

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 colleagues die, the trauma of knowing what exactly this …

Coronavirus and my doctor daughter

Carol Ewig

Patient

May 2, 2020

In March, I began receiving photographs on my social media apps of my daughter’s Match Day celebration seven years ago at Tulane Medical School.

It was a glorious day, in particular, because my daughter got her first choice: Not only would she be an internal medicine resident at a top-tier hospital in New York, with a reputation for excellent training, but she would be in the same city as her sister …

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Coronavirus and my doctor daughter

Medical school testing boards are profiteering during a pandemic

Fatima M. Warsame

Medical Education

May 2, 2020

Medical students are experiencing a number of unprecedented changes in how their education is delivered. Because of COVID-19, objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and anatomy instruction are now virtual, and exams are being remotely proctored. Leadership at medical schools, following guidance from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), suspended clinical rotations as of March 17. Since then, medical students have been assisting with COVID-19 efforts …

COVID-19 isolation doesn’t have to lead to overeating

Karen R. Koenig, MEd, LCSW

Conditions and Diseases

May 2, 2020

If you’ve felt an uptick in urges to munch and crunch your way through the day since COVID-19 has revamped our lives, you’re not alone. It’s hard enough not to fall prey to emotional and mindless eating in the best of times. Enduring skyrocketing stress while hunkered down, we need compassion for what we’re experiencing and a redoubling of attunement to emotions and appetite regulation in order to stay healthy …

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