Health policy and public health

4,357 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 55

COVID-19 becomes a magnifying glass for health disparities

July 8, 2020Jul 8, 2020

The daily email update on COVID-19 affecting our hospital system is a glaring reflection of the health disparities amongst those in marginalized groups. The farther south you go, generally in San Diego, the higher the number of socioeconomically disadvantaged persons, and that tends to include a disproportionate number of persons of color. These populations may be unable to physically distance due to living conditions and job conditions. Perhaps there is …

Health policy

My white privilege perpetuates this country’s inherent racism. It’s time to change that.

Rachel Fogel

July 7, 2020Jul 7, 20202

I am Jewish, bisexual, and female. Statistically, these three identities put me at risk for experiencing violence in this country. But I am also white, and so I am not afraid. I can go for runs in my neighborhood without fear of being attacked. I can shop in fancy stores without fear of being followed. And I can go to sleep at night without fear of police knocking down my …

Health policy

Our public health efforts depend on flexibility and trust

John Connolly

July 7, 2020Jul 7, 2020

Public health has never been more important. As the coronavirus waxes and wanes, it is crucial that our evolving understanding of COVID-19 translate into our everyday lives. Our collective response to the virus will be much improved with an acknowledgment that our scientific knowledge is dynamic, and that we may have to alter our behaviors as scientists unearth more information about the virus’s transmissibility and lethality.

Nowhere is this evolving understanding …

Real physician voices, twice a week

Free, and one click to unsubscribe.

Health policy

White Coats for Black Lives: How to transform anger into action

Alison Nelson, DO & Angela McLaughlin, MD, MPH & Karim Khan, MD & Leah Harvey, MD, MPH & Pranay Sinha, MD & Raagini Jawa, MD, MPH

July 7, 2020Jul 7, 2020

We dealt with the death, uncertainty, and fear of COVID-19 with a stiff upper lip. But our hearts broke when George Floyd was murdered by the police on May 25. George is a symbol of an immense problem. A study reported that one in every thousand Black men can expect to be killed by the police. One in every thousand! Racially directed violence by the police is a public health …

Physician voices

The DNA of the United States of America

Andrew Pickens, MD, JD, MBA

July 6, 2020Jul 6, 20205

Slavery has been part of countless cultures. Slavery is hideous but was not a founding principle of the United States. The founding fathers had differing views on slavery. However, in drafting the Declaration of Independence, the founders planted the seeds…

Watching media, one would not know that. In 2017, Angela Rye, a CNN political commentator, stated that she wanted statues of Jefferson and Washington to come …

Read more…

The DNA of the United States of America

Medical education

The role of medical education in perpetuating health care disparities

Anonymous

July 6, 2020Jul 6, 2020

Black bodies are dying, and medical schools are partially to blame. Never did I imagine that I would come to the realization that as a medical student; I was being trained and conditioned to identify and treat conditions predominately in white people. It is time for medical institutions to address how medical school curriculums, which use whiteness as a scale to define normal, contributes to increased rates of mortality and …

Health policy

Minorities and medical research: Who is still excluded?

Katie Kinsella & Ximena Verduzco-Villanueva

July 6, 2020Jul 6, 2020

In the United States, there is clear evidence that minority populations continue to be underrepresented in clinical research related to new therapies for common and serious long-term medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). This is despite these same…

Black people have one of the highest rates of T2D (13.2 percent), a rate almost twice …

Health policy

Primary care is dying: Why that should scare every large employer

Elizabeth Mitchell

July 6, 2020Jul 6, 20204

Primary care is on life support. COVID-19’s toll on American health care extends beyond the hospitals and medical workers besieged by infection. An equally insidious but less-visible crisis is engulfing primary care, the long-neglected foundation of our health care system. Given the role of America’s largest corporations in providing health care benefits, the C-suite should be on high alert.

As growing numbers of patients postpone appointments over concerns about

…

The Podcast by KevinMD

A public health update on COVID-19 [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

July 5, 2020Jul 5, 2020

"Over the last 100 years, the U.S. has had to respond to five avian flu pandemics. The most severe was the 1918 avian influenza infecting 1/3 of the world’s population and killing 650,000 Americans. It was also the last time…

Listen on Apple Podcasts · Spotify

Listen and followApple Podcasts Spotify YouTubeMore apps · Browse all episodes

“Over the last 100 years, the U.S. has had to respond to five avian flu pandemics. The most severe was the 1918 avian influenza infecting 1/3 of the world’s population and killing 650,000 Americans. It was also the last time wide-spread containment, mitigation, and isolation strategies were used in the U.S. Seldom mentioned about the 1918 pandemic are the three ‘waves’ …

Physician voices

A graduation speech to a residency class

Deborah Edberg, MD

July 4, 2020Jul 4, 2020

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, …

Physician voices

COVID-19 is a grim reminder of my roots

Josh Budhu, MD

July 4, 2020Jul 4, 2020

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic gripped New York City, I have come to dread calling home to my parents. Every conversation ultimately leads to the question: “Is everyone okay?” This is always followed by a pause as my parents consider how much to tell me. Over the past few months, I learned on an almost weekly basis of a new family member, family friend, or neighbor who was hospitalized, transferred …

Read more…

COVID-19 is a grim reminder of my roots

Health policy

Why physicians must speak out about social inequity

American College of Physicians & Philip A. Masters, MD

July 4, 2020Jul 4, 20202

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD. The recent occurrence of widespread civil unrest in the context of the coronavirus pandemic has challenged us as physicians about our appropriate role in dealing with both. The…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.

The recent occurrence of widespread civil unrest in the context of the coronavirus pandemic has challenged us as physicians about our appropriate role in dealing with both.

The response of doctors to the pandemic has been fairly straightforward. The central role of individual physicians and the entire medical profession in confronting a new, highly contagious …

Health policy

Immigrant women are essential: Sociocultural factors clinicians should know during times of crisis

Jonathan G. Shaw, MD & Megha Shankar, MD

July 3, 2020Jul 3, 2020

Across the globe, the month of March became a turning point for the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst daily clinical updates, dramatic increase in cases, and rapid policy changes, International Women’s Day – an observance that allows gender equality to take the spotlight – came and went. Since March, COVID-19 worsened existing health disparities, further exacerbated by unacceptable police brutality, …

Health policy

Educational curricula, policies, and parenting that support anti-racism beginning in pre-school

Stacie Schmidt, MD & Tracey L. Henry, MD

July 3, 2020Jul 3, 2020

Every day since George Floyd’s death, I have read to my five-year-old, brown-skinned boy about reasons to love his skin. After reading a book that explained how black and brown-skinned people are not always treated fairly, he asked, “Does that…

As we discussed ways that systemic racism plays out in society, this was exactly the generalization I feared. In the process of explaining how

…

Health policy

Refining the role of police in our society

Justin Coley

July 3, 2020Jul 3, 2020

In the wake of George Floyd’s death and the rush of similar stories from around the country, many have called to “defund the police.” While critics paint this as a reactionary response to high-profile incidents, the phrase deserves deeper consideration than that. The killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a systemic flaw in our criminal justice system. …

Medical education

Burnout might not be an option for tomorrow’s physicians

Auston Stiefer

July 2, 2020Jul 2, 2020

Long before COVID-19 plagued our nation and world, physicians in the United States found themselves facing their own epidemic within the profession – occupational burnout. Associated with depression and suicidal ideation as well as potential risks to patient safety, physician burnout has uniquely profound and possibly deadly implications in this field, unlike in other professions. Likewise, doctors have been consistently found

…

Medical education

How the United States depends on doctors trained in other countries

Tania M. Jenkins, PhD

July 1, 2020Jul 1, 2020

An excerpt from Doctors' Orders: The Making of Status Hierarchies in an Elite Profession. Copyright (c) 2020 Tania M. Jenkins. Used by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved. I met Trevor on his very first day of residency, at…

I met Trevor on his very first day of residency, at the start of three years of practical, on-the-ground training in internal medicine following medical school. He was of medium height with a closely shaven head and a …

Physician voices

Observations of a Black frontline worker and protester

Margaret Towolawi, MD

July 1, 2020Jul 1, 2020

There is a certain amount of privilege associated with being white, educated, and upper-middle-class while protesting as a frontline worker. There is also a large amount of protection and a lack of “ fear of consequences” mentality. Case in point – my clinic held a kneel in as part of #whitecoatsforblack lives on June 5, 2020. I decided to informally lead the kneel in as it took place on Breonna …

Health policy

What ever happened to forgiveness?

Randall S. Fong, MD

July 1, 2020Jul 1, 20207

“I used to shoot people like you,” the patient said to me. He was one scary Vietnam vet, and I was one scared second-year resident. Though not Vietnamese, I figured correcting him wouldn’t matter. As an Asian American (Chinese on…

“I used to shoot people like you,” the patient said to me.

He was one scary Vietnam vet, and I was one scared second-year resident. Though not Vietnamese, I figured correcting him wouldn’t matter. As an Asian American (Chinese on my dad’s side, Japanese on my mom’s), I’d experienced racism and bigotry before, and from different races, not just white. Even as a doctor, I understood I ‘d still encounter it. …

Read more…

What ever happened to forgiveness?

Physician voices

It’s time for physicians to take a profound moral inventory

Adam King Skrzynski, MD

June 30, 2020Jun 30, 2020

I am writing this commentary in response to a seminal opinion piece published by Dr. Donald M. Berwick, of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston, Massachusetts, in the online edition of JAMA, entitled “The Moral Determinants of Health.“ In light of recent societal events, and the moral reckoning that our society has commenced in regards to issues surrounding racism, inequality, and injustice, this article is …

Health policy and public health

Articles, page 55

Real physician voices, twice a week

The Podcast

Latest episodes

Most popular

The Podcast

Latest episodes

Most popular