Medical
“You’re fired”: 2 words this doctor never expected to hear
It took me 47 years to hear those two devastating words, “You’re fired.” It’s not like I didn’t have a slew of jobs before becoming a physician. I cut lawns and raked leaves as an early teen; I worked in a fast-food restaurant when I was 14 using my older brother’s ID, I worked in…
Read MoreSexual offender treatment during COVID-19 [PODCAST]
“Let’s not suffer more hardship then already incurred by COVID-19. Recognizing that both the psychosocial stressors arising from COVID-19 and the withdrawal of effective sexual offender treatment increase the risk of sexual violence, public safety demands that offenders have access to treatment. Without sexual offender treatment during COVID-19, we exchange one public health crisis for…
Read MoreThe burden of the badge: an MD student’s response to the FIGS controversy
Recently, FIGS – a design-driven medical apparel company – published its latest video advertisement: a young woman in bubblegum pink scrubs struts into view, shaking her FIGS-clad hips for the camera while holding a Medical Terminology for Dummies textbook upside-down. Forget practicing medicine; this woman isn’t fit to drive. The camera pans, emphatically, towards her…
Read MoreCOVID-19 is a time of coming to terms with meaning in our lives and tolerating uncertainty
Initially, after completing my master’s degree, I felt a bit lost. Being very busy, juggling different roles, focusing on areas of interest to the exclusion of other areas of life has long been my comfort zone. The stillness of having completed an intensive project while working full time would have been challenging enough. But in…
Read MoreAll intensivists are not created equal
I’d like to preface this story by saying that the majority of the intensivists I have worked with have been exceptional, caring, and professional. We had all established a good camaraderie, and we had mutual respect for each other. We worked well together. But there always seemed to be one that was the exception. And…
Read MoreCoping with the loss of smell and taste
As I cut a slice of lemon for my tea one morning last March, I found that I could not detect the familiar zing of citrus. Nor, it turned out, could I taste the peach jam on my toast. Overnight, my senses of smell and taste seemed to have disappeared. In the days prior to…
Read MoreIs COVID a turning point for sustainability in hospital supply chains?
Scarcity has, in many ways, defined the COVID-19 experience in the U.S., from shortages in personal protective equipment to ICU ventilators and hospital capacity, to COVID test kits, to drugs like Remdesivir in hard-hit states. These shortages have added impetus and new dimensions to existing conversations around health care supply chains, some of which had originally stemmed from a climate-conscious, sustainability…
Read MoreHelp us make equality an American ideal once again
As physicians, we have a unique perspective on racial justice. As an OB/GYN, I am trusted by women, the LGBTQ community, and people of all ethnic backgrounds to take care of them when they are at their most vulnerable. America is at a health care crossroads, and the decisions we make today will affect generations…
Read MoreBe an upstander and not a bystander [PODCAST]
“The incident bothered me all day and the following many days. I couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was and brushed it aside and stopped thinking about it. In the wake of recent events, it dawned upon me that it wasn’t the patient’s comments that bothered me. It was the fact that no…
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