Medical

In February, I had my first patient ask about my thoughts on the coronavirus. At that time, I was aware of the coronavirus and cautiously optimistic about the situation. My advice to the patient was to have a healthy level of concern about the virus, given the medical communities limited data on the virus. I…

One week ago, a mere glance at my phone between patients would have sufficiently caught me up on 30 minutes of disconnect from both social and mainstream media. Today, as I closed one virtual appointment and waited for my 9 o’clock follow-up to join me on-line, I was met with 16 texts, 148 WhatsApp messages,…

Eighty-five percent of health care facilities used locum tenens temporary doctors in 2019 to address their staffing shortages or gaps in coverage. Physicians are turning to locum tenens work to allow them more flexibility, extra income, the ability to travel, and exposure to new and evolving patient care environments. But what they are likely not…

In 2009, when more than $35 billion was invested in expanding national electronic health record (EHR) uptake, one of many advantages touted was its value as a tool for managing population health. This promise has failed to materialize due to a chaotic rollout of non-communicating systems. Today, as we confront COVID-19, the coronavirus wreaking international…

Charles looks older than his sixty-one years; he is very thin and quite stooped, and his eyes are what I guess are described as “lazy.” One goes one way, and one another. He is badly in need of dental work. He has emphysema, though he continues to smoke heavily. His coloring is not right, and…

I am a physician, and I am not isolating.  Like the Vietnam War defined my parents’ generation and World War 2 defined the generation before that, the COVID-19 pandemic will likely define mine.  My father and grandfathers went to battle – I am now called to be a soldier.  My small group of orthopaedic trauma…

A few days ago, a good friend revived an email thread that routinely circulated among our social cohort of 17 aspiring doctors during our final two years of medical school. The subject line read: qThurs HH. Translation: happy hour every Thursday. Back then, the goal of the email was to establish a standing opportunity for any available recipients…

The summer of 1979 is permanently etched into my memory. I walked into the intensive care unit as a newly minted intern. I walked over to ICU-Bed 1 to be introduced to my first patient, a frail teenaged boy who was tethered to a ventilator. “He is day 30 with respiratory failure from disseminated coccidioidomycosis,”…