Deborah Edberg, MD
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Physician voices
"What does it mean when there are two pink lines?" Her voice is hesitant, eyes searching to find mine across the counter. She knows what it means. I know what it means. I turn to the test to confirm and…
“What does it mean when there are two pink lines?”
Her voice is hesitant, eyes searching to find mine across the counter. She knows what it means. I know what it means. I turn to the test to confirm and slowly put on a mask.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, my brother-in-law took to calling her “Miracle” because, despite none of us having any particular tie to organized religion, that’s …
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The story of keeping my daughter safe
Conditions and diseases
So you've been vaccinated, and some of your close friends have been vaccinated, the weather is getting warmer, and you are beginning to feel like it might be safe to see a few folks in an outdoor, controlled setting. In-person.…
So you’ve been vaccinated, and some of your close friends have been vaccinated, the weather is getting warmer, and you are beginning to feel like it might be safe to see a few folks in an outdoor, controlled setting. In-person. For the first time in a year. After the initial relief and post-vaccine euphoria begin to fade, a new sensation begins to emerge. Let’s call it “post-pandemic in-person panic” disorder.
At …
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Strategies for managing post-pandemic in-person panic
Physician voices
Several months into the pandemic, I received a call from a troubled resident. She had been pulled from her inpatient rotations and was working remotely from home with her husband and one-year-old child. Shortly into our conversation, she confessed the…
Several months into the pandemic, I received a call from a troubled resident. She had been pulled from her inpatient rotations and was working remotely from home with her husband and one-year-old child. Shortly into our conversation, she confessed the guilt she was feeling at not enjoying the enhanced alone time she now had with her baby. She was instead mostly anxious about the learning experiences she was missing, and …
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It is time to acknowledge the caretaking abilities of men
Physician voices
I feet truly honored to have been asked to speak at your graduation and to have a chance to share on this day with all of you. We are experiencing a truly singular moment, and I imagine you are hoping…
I feet truly honored to have been asked to speak at your graduation and to have a chance to share on this day with all of you. We are experiencing a truly singular moment, and I imagine you are hoping that I might say something that would be comforting or inspiring, and I really can’t think what that could possibly be.
For the last half of your third year of residency, …
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A graduation speech to a residency class
Conditions and diseases
For weeks, our health care workforce has been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic staring straight at mortality - their patients and their own. They have been single-mindedly focused on the task at hand, doing what needs to be…
For weeks, our health care workforce has been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic staring straight at mortality – their patients and their own. They have been single-mindedly focused on the task at hand, doing what needs to be done while instinctually suppressing their emotional response. The job requires this, and they have done it well.
Yet, the tragic suicide of Dr. Lorna Breen has brought focus in a devastating …
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Flattening the curve of COVID’s emotional impact
Physician voices
The narrative that paints health care workers as "heroes" makes me uncomfortable. I may not have a right to an opinion as I am third-string back up not currently working in an overwhelmed ER or ICU. I also feel uneasy…
The narrative that paints health care workers as “heroes” makes me uncomfortable. I may not have a right to an opinion as I am third-string back up not currently working in an overwhelmed ER or ICU. I also feel uneasy about the sea of gratitude and cheers of support, though I know they are uplifting to the people on the receiving end.
Yet, while watching these stories of appreciation, resilience, and …
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Stop calling health care workers heroes and do something to help them
Conditions and diseases
About 15 years ago, I spent a few weeks at a small community hospital in Zambia, helping to staff the primary care clinic and attend some of the rounds on the small inpatient units there. The inpatient pediatrics unit was…
About 15 years ago, I spent a few weeks at a small community hospital in Zambia, helping to staff the primary care clinic and attend some of the rounds on the small inpatient units there. The inpatient pediatrics unit was full of young children suffering from malaria or measles, often both. One particularly stark evening, a young couple walked in with an infant wrapped in a scarf carried softly on …
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Words of courage for medical students and residents
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