KevinMD.com: Social media’s leading physician voice
The KevinMD newsletterReal physician voices, twice a weekFree, and one click to unsubscribe.
Subscribe free →
NEWExperts by KevinMDPhysicians and health care experts, by specialty.Jill BeckerAddiction physicianFareeha SiddiquiHematologist-oncologistArnon KrongradSurgeonPaul HainPediatricianSally DaganzoInternistDayna IsaacsHematology-oncology fellowSteven E. WarrenLongevity physicianGretchen E. GreenDiagnostic radiologistAleksandra FilipovicMedical oncologistBobby DuboisInternistJoe PazonaUrologistPatricia De Marco CentenoPsychiatristAlan P. FerenRetired surgeonJeremy HeffnerTrauma surgeonDuane PenshornEmergency physicianHarvey CastroEmergency physicianLaurel A. CoonsScientistJamie PlattDiagnostics CEONathaniel AranaHealth care CEODana Y. LujanHealth care strategistBrowse experts

COVID-19 pandemic

1,704 articles · Since 2020

Articles, page 71

Conditions and diseases

An ethical approach for clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic

As researchers and physicians race to investigate innovative therapeutics against the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, unanswered questions remain regarding the ethics and design of clinical trials. Namely, what is the most ethically and scientifically rigorous approach to test unproven novel or…

As researchers and physicians race to investigate innovative therapeutics against the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, unanswered questions remain regarding the ethics and design of clinical trials. Namely, what is the most ethically and scientifically rigorous approach to test unproven novel or repurposed therapeutic agents during a major public health emergency? Canonically, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have represented the gold standard for evidence-based medicine. In this approach, the efficacy of an intervention …

Read more…

An ethical approach for clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions and diseases

COVID-19 is a different world for our most vulnerable citizens

I have been a physician for almost twenty years. The AIDS pandemic has been the greatest public health calamity of my career. Global Health Observatory data estimates that approximately 32 million people have died from HIV-related illnesses since the disease…

I have been a physician for almost twenty years. The AIDS pandemic has been the greatest public health calamity of my career. Global Health Observatory data estimates that approximately 32 million people have died from HIV-related illnesses since the disease was formally identified in the early 80s. AIDS had already gained a firm foothold in the United States before the administration of the time publicly mentioned the name. Now, the …

Read more…

COVID-19 is a different world for our most vulnerable citizens

Physician finance

Physician financial planning during uncertain times

With COVID-19 well underway and impacting everything from the economy to everyday life, here are a few financial planning strategies during a crisis. 1. Understand your budget. During uncertain times, spending usually reverts to a survivalist mentality. This is a…

With COVID-19 well underway and impacting everything from the economy to everyday life, here are a few financial planning strategies during a crisis.

1. Understand your budget. During uncertain times, spending usually reverts to a survivalist mentality. This is a good time to prioritize what really matters most. As we’re all staying home during COVID-19, entertainment and food costs have greatly reduced. I know I’m cooking meals and finding …

Read more…

Physician financial planning during uncertain times

Real physician voices, twice a week

Free, and one click to unsubscribe.

No spam. We never share your email.

Conditions and diseases

In the coronavirus crisis, for-profit health care kills doctors’ spirits

5

I am a physician. I have worked hard to get where I am in life. I went into medicine for many reasons. The intellectual challenges. Being in a field with lots of human interaction. And of course to help people.…

I am a physician. I have worked hard to get where I am in life. I went into medicine for many reasons. The intellectual challenges. Being in a field with lots of human interaction. And of course to help people. I went into emergency medicine because I ultimately couldn’t decide on a single specialty. I liked something about each one. When I rotated through the emergency department early in

…

Read more…

In the coronavirus crisis, for-profit health care kills doctors’ spirits

Conditions and diseases

What COVID-19 means for all medical students

Coronavirus is sweeping across the world, cities are shutting down, hospitals overflowing, the economy crashing, and suddenly your cranial nerve mnemonic feels like the last thing you should be focusing on. But while the world screeches to a halt, medical…

Coronavirus is sweeping across the world, cities are shutting down, hospitals overflowing, the economy crashing, and suddenly your cranial nerve mnemonic feels like the last thing you should be focusing on. But while the world screeches to a halt, medical students are finding themselves in an unexpected limbo, somewhere between the front lines of health care and the shuttered campuses of colleges and universities. For medical students, COVID-19 means virtual …

Read more…

What COVID-19 means for all medical students

Conditions and diseases

Health care workers are here for you. Do your part to keep them safe.

The front desk staff member who checks you in at your primary care physician’s office is 64 years old with a history of hypertension and coronary artery disease. She unexpectedly became a widower five years ago and is planning to…

The front desk staff member who checks you in at your primary care physician’s office is 64 years old with a history of hypertension and coronary artery disease. She unexpectedly became a widower five years ago and is planning to work until the age of 68 to secure adequate retirement savings. She is worried about contracting SARS-CoV-2 from a patient as they check-in despite being vigilant about her personal hygiene …

Read more…

Health care workers are here for you. Do your part to keep them safe.

Conditions and diseases

COVID-19 and the Hippocratic Oath

On a sticky summer day four years ago, a class of eager medical students and I harmoniously chimed the Hippocratic oath, binding us to the highest standards and code of medical ethics. As newly accepted and unassuming medical students, how…

On a sticky summer day four years ago, a class of eager medical students and I harmoniously chimed the Hippocratic oath, binding us to the highest standards and code of medical ethics.

As newly accepted and unassuming medical students, how could we understand the sacred nature of this rehearsed and recited ‘covenant?’

While pledging the words embedded in this sacred vow, we were completely unaware that the culmination of our medical education …

Read more…

COVID-19 and the Hippocratic Oath

Conditions and diseases

Domestic violence and social isolation during COVID-19

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the country, states are mandating “stay at home” orders; and with these orders comes further social isolation for domestic violence (DV) survivors and their families. Many recent articles highlight the potential risks for DV…

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the country, states are mandating “stay at home” orders; and with these orders comes further social isolation for domestic violence (DV) survivors and their families. Many recent articles highlight the potential risks for DV victims “stuck at home” with their abusers as their opportunities to seek help and support are dwindling. With only ‘ …

Read more…

Domestic violence and social isolation during COVID-19

Conditions and diseases

From a physician to our leaders

Since graduating from medical school in 2002, I have seen a disturbing trend in the lives of doctors. For years, physicians have been squeezed from every direction. Insurance companies and hospitals are constantly fighting to remove our autonomy. The amount…

Since graduating from medical school in 2002, I have seen a disturbing trend in the lives of doctors. For years, physicians have been squeezed from every direction. Insurance companies and hospitals are constantly fighting to remove our autonomy. The amount of paperwork we are required to produce has skyrocketed over the past 20 years, combined with the use of electronic medical records, our face time with our patients has shrunk …

Read more…

From a physician to our leaders

Conditions and diseases

How far are you willing to go to survive COVID-19?

As doctors, we know how this disease progresses. We know the prognosis for patients who need to be on a ventilator. We know that if we have a cardiac arrest during the course of COVID infection, our prognosis gets much…

As doctors, we know how this disease progresses. We know the prognosis for patients who need to be on a ventilator. We know that if we have a cardiac arrest during the course of COVID infection, our prognosis gets much grimmer. Faced with this knowledge, how do you decide how far you are willing to go to try and survive?

If you had to be intubated on a ventilator, would you …

Read more…

How far are you willing to go to survive COVID-19?

Conditions and diseases

My uncle’s battle against COVID-19

I just lost my uncle to COVID-19. I am writing this to honor him because I cannot leave the country to travel to Canada to see him, I could not visit him in the hospital when he needed us the…

I just lost my uncle to COVID-19. I am writing this to honor him because I cannot leave the country to travel to Canada to see him, I could not visit him in the hospital when he needed us the most, I cannot attend his funeral, and I could not tell him in person how much I love him and appreciate everything he has done for me.

He was

…

Read more…

My uncle’s battle against COVID-19

Conditions and diseases

I won’t sacrifice myself when I can’t get a damn mask

Nurses are responsible for patient care. They are the ones at the bedside 24/7. There is no one who spends more time with individual patients. They are the ones most in danger in the coronavirus pandemic. The news gets grimmer…

Nurses are responsible for patient care. They are the ones at the bedside 24/7. There is no one who spends more time with individual patients. They are the ones most in danger in the coronavirus pandemic.

The news gets grimmer every day about the inevitable surge coming across the country. Forecast of death tolls in the 100,000 to 200,000 range, if not higher, is terrifying.  If the death toll is that …

Read more…

I won’t sacrifice myself when I can’t get a damn mask

Conditions and diseases

Ophthalmology in the era of COVID-19

We are in the midst of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The numbers are scary and changing by the day and hour. Johns Hopkins University has a real-time dashboard where you can monitor global cases. Cases in China have leveled…

We are in the midst of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The numbers are scary and changing by the day and hour. Johns Hopkins University has a real-time dashboard where you can monitor global cases.

Cases in China have leveled off, while elsewhere in the world, cases are on the rise. At the time of this writing, there are about a quarter of a million confirmed cases worldwide …

Read more…

Ophthalmology in the era of COVID-19

Conditions and diseases

For the first time, my job has betrayed me

5

I miss going to work feeling excited, inspired, determined, frustrated, and exhausted. Being a doctor has been my magnetic north since I was ten, the longest relationship of my life. It’s who I am, what I’m called, how I spend…

I miss going to work feeling excited, inspired, determined, frustrated, and exhausted. Being a doctor has been my magnetic north since I was ten, the longest relationship of my life. It’s who I am, what I’m called, how I spend my waking hours, what makes my family most proud of me, and my first love.

Now I go to work terrified. I cannot sleep the night before I am on call. …

Read more…

For the first time, my job has betrayed me

Conditions and diseases

A doctor’s message to ICE: Release asylum seekers to prevent COVID-19 spread

With COVID-19 spreading rapidly throughout the nation, we need to work together to save as many lives as possible. This includes asylum seekers who are detained for entry-related offenses. Asylum seekers are among the most vulnerable groups globally. They are…

With COVID-19 spreading rapidly throughout the nation, we need to work together to save as many lives as possible. This includes asylum seekers who are detained for entry-related offenses.

Asylum seekers are among the most vulnerable groups globally. They are mothers, husbands, and children fleeing violence, poverty, and persecution. With few options, they arrive to the U.S under a human and legal right to seek asylum. As

…

Read more…

A doctor’s message to ICE: Release asylum seekers to prevent COVID-19 spread

Conditions and diseases

3 tips for inner peace in this COVID-19 world

The world is impacted by coronavirus. The same advancements in civilization that allow us to travel and experience new cultures are the very thing that has blurred our borders and made everyone susceptible to the virus. We are observers and…

The world is impacted by coronavirus. The same advancements in civilization that allow us to travel and experience new cultures are the very thing that has blurred our borders and made everyone susceptible to the virus. We are observers and participants at the same time.

Schools are closed and shifting to long-distance learning models. Conferences are canceled. Sporting events are shutting the stadiums to fans. We are social beings now being …

Read more…

3 tips for inner peace in this COVID-19 world

Conditions and diseases

We treat self-sacrifice as a currency in medicine

The world of COVID-19 has two poles: the frontline workers bravely putting themselves at risk for the greater good, exiled to tents in their backyards to protect their families – and the rest of humanity, asked to do its part…

The world of COVID-19 has two poles: the frontline workers bravely putting themselves at risk for the greater good, exiled to tents in their backyards to protect their families – and the rest of humanity, asked to do its part by staying home.

As a medical student, I have felt somewhat untethered – aligned in training and identity with the former, but relegated to the latter out of necessity. I have …

Read more…

We treat self-sacrifice as a currency in medicine

Conditions and diseases

Coronavirus exposes the reality of income-driven health inequality

It’s maddening to see the differences in health outcomes between the rich and the poor. Even more unsettling is reflecting upon the psychological pain accumulated when living in a fad-obsessed materialistic comparison-creating society, the postponed dreams, and the day to…

It’s maddening to see the differences in health outcomes between the rich and the poor. Even more unsettling is reflecting upon the psychological pain accumulated when living in a fad-obsessed materialistic comparison-creating society, the postponed dreams, and the day to day compromise that those with less have to endure – thoughts that may be far removed from the ruminations of the those who have abundance.

I don’t mean to stereotype, and …

Read more…

Coronavirus exposes the reality of income-driven health inequality

Conditions and diseases

Being a medical student during the COVID-19 pandemic

On March 17th, in a nationwide effort to protect our patients and minimize the overuse of critical primary protective equipment (PPE), the most disposable force in the hospital was removed: our medical students. When I learned of this temporary suspension,…

On March 17th, in a nationwide effort to protect our patients and minimize the overuse of critical primary protective equipment (PPE), the most disposable force in the hospital was removed: our medical students.

When I learned of this temporary suspension, I had just finished my first month of inpatient medicine, a defining achievement in the clinical years. My peers and I had endured eight months of clinical rotations, surviving (at times …

Read more…

Being a medical student during the COVID-19 pandemic

Conditions and diseases

Ignoring COVID-19 won’t make it go away

Ignoring a problem won’t make it go away. I say this all the time, with love and compassion, to my patients who are having trouble accepting a diagnosis. Ignoring your Type 2 Diabetes, for example, won’t make it any less…

Ignoring a problem won’t make it go away. I say this all the time, with love and compassion, to my patients who are having trouble accepting a diagnosis. Ignoring your Type 2 Diabetes, for example, won’t make it any less real. It will only land you in renal failure and on dialysis, or with a foot amputation, or a heart attack or stroke. Sometimes, we have to set ego aside. …

Read more…

Ignoring COVID-19 won’t make it go away

84
pages