Medical
I graduated medical school while sitting in the parking lot
My phone chimed. I received an email stating that rotations were canceled, so I had effectively graduated medical school while sitting in the parking lot of my local grocery store. It felt like a natural end to an isolating day. That morning, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. The streetlights shone against the budding…
Read MoreA physician’s experience of bigotry in medicine
“So now you think I have all these implicit biases, don’t you?” My Caucasian attending rolls his chair towards me. The words are already out of his mouth. And now I’m acutely aware, once again, that I’m African-American, gay, and in a position of hierarchical vulnerability. I’m alone in this room with him. All because…
Read MoreTelemedicine in COVID-19: Disparities still exist
An increasing number of institutions are relying on telemedicine to continue delivering care to patients in lieu of typical outpatient visits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Telemedicine has been lauded as a potential equalizer in health care access. Indeed, it allows for safe and easy access to medical professionals. It especially benefits patients with…
Read MoreWhat to eat to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Would you like reduce your risk of cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia? Researchers from around the world having been studying a variety of different factors that might reduce these risks and keep the brain healthy. Old news: The Mediterranean diet is beneficial One factor that a number of studies have converged on is a…
Read MoreWhen this pandemic ends, I hope we will all better appreciate these kitchen table relationships
One of my favorite TV characters is Cliff Clavin, the know-it-all mailman on the TV show Cheers. I really like his quirky sense of humor and affection for interesting but useless facts. When I was in medical school and transcribed class notes to make extra money, I would put some Cliff Clavin-style worthless bits of…
Read MorePrioritize the health of children during the pandemic
Where are the kids? What are they doing? Are they learning anything? My stomach grows heavy, and my throat clogs. Are they eating? Are they safe? Good Lord, I hope that they are safe. As a pediatrician and as a mother of two, I regularly scan news articles on COVID for data on children. I…
Read MoreCOVID-19 blurs the line between physician and patient
The unspoken culture in medicine has been that to maintain objective professionalism – some measure of distance is encouraged between the clinician and the patient. From anatomy lab, students are encouraged to forget patients as fellow human beings but organs and limbs. Medical rounds and board examinations reinforce that patients are diseases to be fixed.…
Read MoreCOVID-19? We are not even ready for a hurricane.
The hurricane made landfall during the early morning hours. When I woke up, all I saw was devastation. Highway 288 transformed into a lake. The bayou running underneath was completely flooded with water spilling into the roads. The park, a place where I find solace in every day, was unrecognizable. People had abandoned their vehicles.…
Read MoreThe social determinants of health during the COVID-19 pandemic
As an academic internist, over the past five years, I’ve been hearing more and more about social determinants of health. I have read countless journal articles comparing health outcomes; I’ve attended grand rounds on the subject; recently, our electronic medical record changed to incorporate a tab on social determinants of health into the patient’s chart. …
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