Maybe this sounds dramatic, but the coronavirus is like a war. The soldiers are health care workers. The enemy is the virus. The battlefield is the hospitals. We are finding out that life can turn on a dime.
I found that out 30 years ago in August 1990. Iraq invaded Kuwait. I knew as soon as they started deploying troops to Saudi Arabia that I would be going. By the end …
The coronavirus pandemic is truly like a war
In health care, we are all feeling overwhelmed right now. We are overwhelmed by the number of patients, the vast unknown about COVID-19, and the lack of appropriate equipment to do our jobs properly.
Yes, right now, we don’t have the tools to adequately treat our patients and protect ourselves. We took an oath, but nowhere in this oath did we pledge to be cannon fodder — …
A message from an Ebola veteran to all health care workers
So can we talk about something? Something that may be unpopular or seem callous at this time?
New York is the epicenter of this pandemic in our nation. They are now asking, nay pleading, for doctors to come help them. They’re drowning and do not have the staff to continue. Their own docs are overwhelmed but still going in battle mode. Their hotels are offering rooms to those who don’t want …
After the pandemic, can we stop vilifying doctors?
I woke up today wearing the lead suit of grief. I was tired, irritable, and tearful. I was angry at the lack of PPE and the risk that this poses to my colleagues. I was sad, anticipating the loss of my colleagues who are still alive and well. I was in denial, wondering if I could sneak my kids out of town for spring break. But in reality, I was …
Anticipatory grief during the COVID-19 pandemic
When I look at his big blue-gray eyes, I see fear, sadness, resignation, and what only I can recognize as an attempt to reassure me. I can faintly make out small areas of moisture at the corners of his crinkled eyes, while I see him struggling for both words and breath. I can barely hear him over the beeping of machines next to him, screaming an alarm, that some parameter …
COVID-19: Time is the one thing we can never get back
What a time to be alive. What a time to be a new emergency room doctor. Ten months into a hopefully long career and already facing the healthcare battle of my life. I’m in my early 30s. Not exactly the highest risk age group when it comes to the novel coronavirus. But make no mistake, people my age have died and likely will continue to. Being 100 percent honest, I …
I am an ER doctor on the frontlines of the COVID-19 fight but I am counting my blessings
He was supposed to be the first patient of the day — not the last. He started as a “no-show” on an already overbooked afternoon office schedule. A gift of sorts, I thought, making clinic a little bit easier and a tiny bit quicker. But Jim showed up hours later in my waiting room. The front office staff asked if I was willing to squeeze him in, presenting me a …
Physician burnout is a patient safety issue
I am a physician, and I am scared. I am scared for my patients, my friends, my family, and most of all, I am scared for my colleagues. As an oncologist, I am not someone yet on the frontlines treating patients acutely diagnosed with COVID-19, although when the call for all hands-on deck comes, I will answer. Such is the nature of our profession. But no one told …
I am a physician, and I am scared
I am sure this comes as a surprise to no one, but taking care of hospitalized COVID-19 patients outside of the intensive care unit (ICU) is really emotionally draining. The absolute fear and loneliness in their voices pierce into you. They keep asking for reassurance, and I’m providing some, but not enough of what they want or need to hear. Yes, you’re on oxygen, but not very much, and overall …
The absolute fear and loneliness of COVID-19 patients in the ICU
“Dark times lie ahead of us, and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right.”
– Albus Dumbledore
After Voldemort’s return in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, the students of Hogwarts are faced with much fear and uncertainty. Suddenly a future that many had envisioned – progress through school, graduate, find a job – was no longer as straightforward as it …
Choose not what’s easy, but what is right
Cardiac electrophysiologists (EPs) – like many other medical and surgical subspecialists in New York City – are volunteering and being reassigned to care for ill patients with coronavirus (COVID-19), their cath lab skills put to rest for the time being.
EP is a procedure-based field, comprised of many “elective” cases that nonetheless improve symptoms and extend life. Amidst the pandemic, EP labs throughout the country are ramping down to solely handle …
The role of cardiac electrophysiologists in the coronavirus pandemic
Our country is facing a national health crisis on a scale that has never been seen before in our lifetimes. The COVID-19 pandemic is unchartered territory—a new strain of an old virus that has so far claimed more than 1,000 lives. Right now, we are all nervous for what’s still to come—not just for ourselves, but for our parents, grandparents, and the vulnerable groups, who seem to be most severely …
COVID-19: Social distancing is our responsibility. Vaccines are too.
We are in the midst of an unprecedented moment in the history of medical education: Match Day ceremonies canceled, clinical rotations interrupted, and licensing exam centers shut-down. As the anticipated surge on the health care system due to COVID-19 looms, some programs are asking fourth years who have met graduation requirements to consider starting residency early. New York University is offering early graduation to fourth-year medical …
What is the role of medical students during the COVID-19 surge?
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The image of patients dying in the intensive care unit is changing. Over the phone, family members cry on the other end as I tell them that we are not allowing visitors due to “the coronavirus” at this time. They tell me, “but I help make his decisions for him.” These decisions now have to be made over the phone.
This is just what we have to do to keep society …
Grieving the end of life experience from an ICU nurse
It has been a long time since we’ve been known simply as doctors. But, in the midst of this global pandemic, we return to the essence of our jobs: we provide care for people. Before we differentiated into various medical specialties, we shared a commitment to alleviating patients’ suffering. We swore the Hippocratic Oath.
Today, we are called to make another shared commitment. Our families and communities are facing a threat …
Medicine is a team sport, and we will only beat this pandemic if we work together
Not in hospitals. Not in the clinics.
Not spending an hour suturing a laceration, so the resident is available to help others.
Not reminding the team that it’s the day, and we should consider stopping the antibiotics.
Not presenting on the latest COVID-19 treatment updates during rounds.
Not writing the history and physical for the 4th admission the morning – or for that matter, the progress notes and discharge summaries that are piling up.
Not …
Where are the medical students during the pandemic?
Traffic is non-existent. Schools are closed. Restaurants are only offering take-out and delivery. Parking lots at strip malls are empty on weekends. Only a limited number of people at a time are allowed inside the grocery store.
Welcome to the post-normal era since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the scene in Northern California.
One day we will look back at this time and realize how much it changed everything. Simple …
Our work as anesthesiologists in the post-normal era
Funerals are poetically beautiful in a way. Aside from the pain and loss that the family, friends, and loved ones are experiencing … those that gather reflect on the life that was lost with joy and maybe even laughter. While in the presence of the lost loved one, we mourn, and despite the BS, stress or struggle you’re dealing with personally, it is often all put aside for a few …
The impact a mentor had on this physician
I work at a hospital that, like many others, has taken significant steps to prepare for a surge of COVID-19 cases in the next days to weeks. Many of our residents were sent home while assigned to elective services where we are “nonessential,” to reduce our risk of exposure and deepen the bench of back-up providers. As I sit at home, preparing for what’s to come, my mind keeps wandering …
No time to grieve: fears of a resident physician during the COVID-19 pandemic
The coronavirus epidemic has proven to be a very challenging time for all of us. However, we must never forget the commitment which health care professionals demonstrate every day in caring for our communities, especially during such times of dire need. From nurses to physicians, respiratory therapists to pharmacists, and the administrative personnel that support and guide them, the dedication of our front-line staff in the hospitals and clinics throughout …
Advice for a pediatrician: the importance of having a grateful heart
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