Even with education on hold, medical students still contribute

Conditions and Diseases
April 10, 2020

I’m a third-year medical student, but my medical education, as I knew it, is currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Stanford has pulled its students from hospitals and clinics for the time being, following recommendations from the Association for American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Our pre-clinical students, first and second-years, have transitioned to remote learning. Fourth-years, who have mostly completed their required rotations and have already Read more…

Even with education on hold, medical students still contribute

We’re buying masks and gowns with clinicians’ health. We need to stop.

Conditions and Diseases
April 10, 2020

I am the director of critical care for a hospital. Five days ago I tested positive for COVID-19. I can’t know for certain where exactly I contracted the virus. But when my hospital admitted its first COVID-positive patient, I stayed until 3 a.m. to set up the isolation ward and care for the patient until she was intubated and transferred to the ICU. I entered the isolation room wearing …

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We’re buying masks and gowns with clinicians’ health. We need to stop.

Male gynecologists: a call to action

Physician
April 10, 2020

The worst of our peers now represent us to the public. Today, whether they are the subject of legal action after their abuse of women is revealed, or dragged into the spotlight through the courage of the patients they assaulted, male gynecologists are becoming notorious in American medicine.

While the history of our profession is rife with examples of male gynecologists building their clinical knowledge on the suffering of women, by …

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Male gynecologists: a call to action

The inspiring women physicians of the COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions and Diseases
April 9, 2020

I am a professor and cardiac anesthesiologist who practices at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Like the majority of health centers across the world, our leaders are working around the clock to treat COVID-19 in our community. We on the front lines are preparing, educating ourselves daily on rapidly changing plans and treatments, and working to keep …

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The inspiring women physicians of the COVID-19 pandemic

This pandemic highlights the need for an emergency fund

Physician Finance
April 9, 2020

Out of the blue, a new virus popped up, and ten weeks later, it is a pandemic. Within the last ten weeks, doctors have identified this new disease, figured out how it is transmitted, identified what body fluid we need to test to determine who has contracted the disease, developed a test for it, mass-produced that test, and distributed the tests all over the world. What an incredible response we …

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This pandemic highlights the need for an emergency fund

Truth dies in silence. Sadly, so do people.

Conditions and Diseases
April 9, 2020

I have been writing columns for physicians for twenty years.  And year after year, I have had physicians say this: “I’m glad you said what you did. If I said it, I’d be fired.” There are variations on the theme, but they’re much the same.  Twenty years, and far more than 20 years, during which the alleged health care leaders in America have been routinely muzzled because they aren’t supposed …

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Truth dies in silence. Sadly, so do people.

How doctors can rush to complete their wills

Physician Finance
April 9, 2020

With COVID-19 raging through the nation, and limited supply of PPE at hospitals, doctors and other critical care personnel are at high risk due to their increased and daily exposure to the virus. For health care workers, the need to plan for a possible worst-case outcome for themselves and their families has become an immediate concern. Doctors are spending limited weekend time Read more…

How doctors can rush to complete their wills

How the coronavirus pandemic can save lives in the future

Conditions and Diseases
April 9, 2020

Infectious diseases have been a scourge of mankind since time immemorial. I am a keen reader of history, and anyone who does so, knows that infections have not only caused billions of deaths and untold suffering—but have also brought down kings, armies, empires, and entire civilizations. Previous pandemics have literally changed the course of human history. The one we now face in 2020s America thankfully falls at a time of …

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How the coronavirus pandemic can save lives in the future

Why good doctors must say no

Physician
April 9, 2020

Saying no is hard. Even harder if you happen to be kind. You want to help, to make people smile, you want them to like you. Saying no doesn’t come easy.

We’ve never been taught to say no. Ever since we were toddlers, we’ve been conditioned to say yes. Rolling on the floor in a temper tantrum to express our no was a no-no. People don’t like you if you say …

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Why good doctors must say no

COVID-19’s dual threat to seniors: Lapses in care and social isolation is as devastating as the virus itself 

Conditions and Diseases
April 9, 2020

The novel coronavirus continues to rage through America, with the total cases standing at more than 210,000 and the death toll at over 5,000. It is without question that our seniors–those 65 years of age or older–will bear the brunt of the health consequences of COVID-19 and the projected American death toll of up to 240,000 this year.

It is now well known that seniors have a …

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COVID-19’s dual threat to seniors: Lapses in care and social isolation is as devastating as the virus itself 

Should the telemedicine boom persist after the COVID-19 pandemic?

Conditions and Diseases
April 9, 2020

It was 2013. High-tech entrepreneurs were excitedly “disrupting” industries, bringing goods and services closer to users. Uber replaced cabs, Kickstarter replaced investors, and telehealth companies offered convenient, at-home medical care over smartphone video. Why waste time going to an office or clinic, especially if you’re not feeling well? Why spend so much money? The physician’s physical examination had been oversold. It wasn’t really needed.

Psychotherapy never required a physical exam in …

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Should the telemedicine boom persist after the COVID-19 pandemic?

When a mnemonic becomes dangerous

Conditions and Diseases
April 9, 2020

Fat.

One tiny word. One voluptuous, full-figured concept.

Several weeks ago, amidst a conversation regarding the risk factors for cholelithiasis (i.e., gallstones) during a chief concern small group session for preclinical students, my preceptor ushered in an aurally convenient yet unsettling mnemonic utilizing alliteration that has apparently been in the works among medical education for a while now, known as “the 4 Fs”: female, fertile, forty, and … fat.

Yes, you read that …

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When a mnemonic becomes dangerous

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Why we must be cautious about hydroxychloroquine

Conditions and Diseases
April 8, 2020

We have all listened repeatedly to the many confused, confusing, and misleading statements coming from the White House in the midst of this pandemic, unprecedented in its scope and existential threat. Responding to all the misstatements would be a full-time job. However, the barrage of reckless comments made about drug treatments for COVID-19 during a briefing on April 5, 2020, requires immediate and strong correction.

To address this, I will respond—in …

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Why we must be cautious about hydroxychloroquine

COVID-19 made me realize that I’m not ready to die to be a doctor

Conditions and Diseases
April 8, 2020

My last block of medical school was supposed to be the best part of the past four years. I carefully crafted a four-week vacation from school, designed for searching for the perfect place to live during my emergency medicine residency while spending valuable time connecting with classmates I might never see again. I could never imagine my current reality of moving back into my childhood bedroom and hiding from imminent …

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COVID-19 made me realize that I’m not ready to die to be a doctor

Doctors and health care workers must be granted student loan forgiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions and Diseases
April 8, 2020

While millions of Americans are being told to stay home, doctors, nurses, and other health care providers are showing up to work every day to battle an invisible enemy—the deadly COVID-19 virus. With hospitals, doctors’ offices, and nursing homes facing personal protective equipment shortages, for health care providers, it is a daily choice between their own health and that of their patients. In fact, many …

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Doctors and health care workers must be granted student loan forgiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic

Can I belong to the medical profession without having to give up everything else?

Conditions and Diseases
April 8, 2020

I had spent the morning in the operating room, holding open the mouth of a young man while the resident physician attempted to stabilize the fractures in his jaw bone and lace wires between his upper and lower gums, much the way one would thread a shoelace between the sides of a sneaker. Peering into the patient’s mouth, I couldn’t help but wonder if he could be an asymptomatic carrier …

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Can I belong to the medical profession without having to give up everything else?

Support your local private practice physician. They’re a small business.

Conditions and Diseases
April 8, 2020

Small businesses are a vital part of our economy. They are ubiquitous and take on numerous forms, including traditional brick and mortar spaces, kiosks, and online enterprises. They enhance our most basic capitalist principles, such as innovation, entrepreneurship, and competition. Many small business owners give of their hearts and souls, viewing their employees and customers as family. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and with it the necessary sweeping measures of …

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Support your local private practice physician. They’re a small business.

How parenting in a pandemic is an unexpected opportunity

Conditions and Diseases
April 8, 2020

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 help it feel more like an opportunity and less …

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How parenting in a pandemic is an unexpected opportunity

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