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It’s time to honor those who died from COVID-19 by sharing their stories

Conditions and Diseases

April 23, 2020

As of this moment, 40,265 Americans have died. They loved their families and friends. They had hopes and dreams. They were moms and dads, daughters and sons, grandmas, and grandpas. They meant something to somebody. Their deaths are barely acknowledged by anyone. They exist as statistics.

This is a frightening time we live in. We are in survival mode. Our world has become very small. We cling to our immediate family. …

If we return to normal in medicine, have we lost the lesson of the pandemic?

Stephanie Wellington, MD

Conditions and Diseases

April 23, 2020

My energy has been bottled up. It’s not just over the past few weeks during this pandemic. It has been bottled up and backlogged in some areas of my life for decades.

The recent turn of life events has just made it even more glaring and evident to me. It forced and demanded that I do something about it.

The traffic jam of my energy manifested itself in procrastination and putting things …

Hero or victim? My mother, the anesthesiologist.

Anonymous

Physician

April 23, 2020

My mother gave years of her life to service in this hospital. I was born in this hospital. I volunteered here for years before I started my residency in this hospital. I grew up before the very eyes of this hospital. I owe my life to this hospital, but I don’t owe my death to this hospital. And neither does my mother.

I start my shift with …

Physicians just want respect in the time of COVID-19

Rebecca Elia, MD

Conditions and Diseases

April 23, 2020

After speaking, working, and coaching with hundreds of physician moms, guess what their #1 request at work is. Guess. A pay raise? More vacation time? Adequate maternity leave? Any maternity leave? Hint: Now, for the first time in my many decades as a physician, I am hearing the same request from white male physicians who have long since completed their training.

Another hint: Look at the title. No, nothing about me …

How small acts of kindness can inspire others during the pandemic

Sonia Qadir, MD

Conditions and Diseases

April 23, 2020

When the pandemic hit New York, I was lucky to have enough PPE to prepare myself, and my staff, for what was to come. After the 2014 Ebola scare, I stocked up on N95 masks, gowns, gloves, and face shields; I knew that should anything with even the slightest semblance to that crisis occur once more, I needed to be prepared. When the owner of Acutis Labs informed me that …

A Los Angeles response to the pandemic

Alexander Connelly, MD

Conditions and Diseases

April 23, 2020

Introduction

We are doctors. We were trained to heal, to bring relief, and on occasion, to guide patients and families through end-of-life challenges. Unfortunately, with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, places such as Italy have had to suffer from needing to make life-and-death decisions for patients simply due to insufficient resources. In Los Angeles, it seems that we are on-track with preparation for the COVID-19 surge …

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A Los Angeles response to the pandemic

Capitalizing on what we know from other pandemics, with a little help from Major League Baseball

Cory Michael, MD

Conditions and Diseases

April 23, 2020

Before the age of modern understanding and drug development, HIV sparked fear, anxiety, and panic throughout the country. My eighth-grade science teacher was the first to teach me about HIV, a virus that makes so many mistakes in replicating itself that it confuses the host’s immune system with its mutations. So fascinated by this bizarre product of biology, I knew then that I wanted to study viruses. I read all …

A pediatrician’s tips to help you and your family during the coronavirus pandemic

Johanna Vidal Phelan, MD, MBA

Conditions and Diseases

April 22, 2020

The coronavirus has certainly served to manifest our shared humanity and vulnerability. As parents, many of us are facing substantial challenges in providing for our families, as we struggle to help our children with their schoolwork, all the while hoping we can return to some semblance of normalcy soon. To continue to provide the security and love our children need in order to thrive in our homes, we must also …

The triple aim revised: financial shock, burnout, and imposter syndrome

Susan MacLellan-Tobert, MD

Physician Finance

April 22, 2020

The pandemic has revised the triple aim framework of health care. The simultaneous triple pursuit of improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of health care is currently not possible. With widespread forced lockdowns, we are unable to provide the optimal patient care experience, the health of the population is declining (limited access, postponed procedures, delayed vaccinations, etc.). And while …

Our foundation as a nation and the care for the sick, poor, and injured are inextricably linked

Cesar Padilla, MD

Health Policy

April 22, 2020

As Americans, we rarely question the authenticity or relevance of our constitution. Although segments are hotly debated, and parts are amended over time, the document stands as a light of legal and ethical truism. The foundation of our country and its revolutionary ideals served a purpose – to escape the grip and tyranny of the British empire. Before our independence was won, however, America had some soul searching to do. …

Going to McDonald’s in the coronavirus era

Raymond Abbott

Conditions and Diseases

April 22, 2020

In the coronavirus era, I go most days to our neighborhood McDonald’s, where I purchase a cup of coffee and take it outside to a patio area where I sit and eat peanut butter crackers which I carry with me.

Today as I stood in a short line inside the facility, with persons standing the approved distance from one another, of course, an older man came up behind me and tapped …

How cell phones can help lead us out of the COVID-19 pandemic

Samuel Yang, MD, Jennifer Lee, MD, and Juan Chaparro, MD

Health Technology

April 22, 2020

As most of America approaches the one-month mark since shelter-in-place orders began, there is increasing talk of “plateauing” and debate of strategies for resuming “normal” life. Unfortunately, we continue to find ourselves without a clear path out of this unprecedented pandemic. Now more than ever, in the setting of an infectious disease crisis, health care providers must be at the forefront to advocate for those most at risk of a …

The Intern: an excerpt from a novel

Peter Hogenkamp, MD

Physician

April 22, 2020

An excerpt from The Intern.

Room 12 was at the west end of the pediatrics ward and to the right, at the far side of an alcove few patients ever entered—and none left. Maggie paused at the corner, reaching into the recess where the nurses stowed the …

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The Intern: an excerpt from a novel

How microaggressions contribute to impostor syndrome

Jennifer Hunt, MD

Physician

April 22, 2020

I accepted my job as chair of the department of pathology at the University of Arkansas before I turned 40, though I didn’t start until after my birthday. I don’t know if I was the youngest chair in the country, but I think I was the only one with a car seat and a spare diaper in my purse. My memories of those first few months are still vivid, even …

An open letter to graduating medical students

Lilian White

Medical Education

April 21, 2020

I see you.

Studying. Reading the updated guidelines for patients with COVID-19, reviewing differentials, and management algorithms for common chief complaints during this time of restricted direct patient contact. Embracing online boot camps. Completing residency paperwork. Thank you for preparing.

Relaxing. Trying out a new yoga video. Watching Netflix by the hour. Reading a new book. Going for a run or walk. Thank you for re-charging your batteries so you can serve …

COVID-19 and the MCAT: What should premedical students do?

Elisabeth Fassas

Medical Education

April 21, 2020

As many of the spring MCAT dates have been canceled due to the onset of COVID-19, pre-med students across the country will be faced with daunting decisions on when to test and how to prepare for arguably the most definitive examination of their careers thus far. Students’ strategies surrounding the MCAT can affect anything from their academic schedule to the cycle in which they will matriculate. Throw the tremendous costs …

The Hippocratic Oath versus my oath as a mother

Poonam Merai, MD

Conditions and Diseases

April 21, 2020

I recited the Hippocratic Oath many years ago as I donned my new white coat and made a commitment to serve humanity through the practice of medicine. That zeal to help others continued through a vigorous residency and fellowship. As life was put on hold to pursue that dream of becoming a doctor, the brakes were lifted after training as I got married and had two children. Soon, instead of …

Pandemic lessons: Social justice is not disposable medical school curriculum

Matthew A. Crane and Sara Wallam

Conditions and Diseases

April 21, 2020

With the public health emergency of COVID-19, there has been a renewed call to improve emergency preparedness among physicians. Varied proposals have arisen for how to improve medical education in anticipation of future disasters. While many of these proposals are reasonable, a problematic train of thought has also emerged: seeking to improve pandemic education at the cost of removing existing education on the social factors surrounding …

What happens to health care workers after the coronavirus?

Susan Shannon, RN

Conditions and Diseases

April 21, 2020

Webster’s Dictionary defines trauma as a “disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe emotional stress.”

An article in MarketWatch describes the reality of a doctor after being on the frontlines in Wuhan for two months:

Li is mentally and psychologically at a loss for what to do next. He can’t sleep or eat, he often feels dazed, and sometimes, seemingly out of nowhere, he weeps.

Nurses have described …

What it’s like to be a frontline physician with COVID-19 patient

Anonymous

Conditions and Diseases

April 21, 2020

It was the middle of March when I came back to my work shift. I got the news my floor would be COVID-19 floor that meant all patients coming to the ER with COVID-19 symptoms would be placed solely under my supervision.

I was all ready for it — at least I knew the challenges I was going to face.

The number of patients getting admitted to rule out COVID-19 kept on …