Medical

At the end of March, as the pandemic reshaped all our lives, I wrote a blog post about how grandparents might cope with safety recommendations made at that time while remaining connected with their families. Many of us hoped that the crisis would be short-lived, enabling us to return to “normal” before too long. Now…

Despite the pervasiveness of mental illness and burnout among medical providers, only in the past decade have providers begun to acknowledge and explore the psychological distress so many struggle with. As a resident, I have observed how COVID-19 has further complicated this situation by dramatically increasing stress while limiting our capacity to deal with that…

An excerpt from Man’s 4th Best Hospital. “Why am I here?” the Fat Man was saying to us, his team gathered for the first time around in his new public clinic leaning up against one of the soaring buildings of Man’s 4th. “And why are you? One day I looked around and asked myself, ‘Self…

“Government officials, regardless of political affiliation, should seek sound medical advice before communicating with their constituents. Appropriate public health information should be shared so that constituents are not harmed by following misinformed medical information. Government officials, news media, and social media platforms should account for the health information they spread. We must combat misinformation during…

As a physician working in acute care medicine, one of the biggest delights of my job is regularly still having patients from the Greatest Generation. In the United Kingdom, I really enjoyed sitting with them and hearing their stories of mandatory city evacuations during World War 2, rationing, the Blitz, and the huge struggle to…

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…

Chronic conditions are justifiably an area of broad concern because of their adverse impacts on patients and effects on health care costs. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the role of telemedicine as a powerful tool for revolutionizing chronic condition management. Going forward, the policy question is whether clinicians should have complete flexibility…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists, physicians, and public health epidemiologists have come together, and there has been a surge in research worldwide. Basic science research has been leading the way in developing vaccines and genome sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 strains. The industry has ramped up research on developing antibody tests and viral tests to keep up…