Medical

On November 9th, the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, decided to allow hospital workers with COVID-19 to continue to come to work. He required that they be asymptomatic and that they only work on COVID-19 wards with COVID-19 patients. Given at-capacity hospitals and skyrocketing case counts in that state, health care workers (HCW) had…

The COVID-19 pandemic has led many people to forego follow-up and treatment of chronic health conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure). It is now quite evident that people with hypertension are also more likely to develop severe complications from the coronavirus. In the US, African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities, including Hispanics…

Concern that the scientific growth of medicine has come at the expense of the art of medicine is not new. However, should we consider that not only does this impact the quality and practice of medicine, but might it also contribute to the rampant burnout in physicians? Does a narrow focus on the linear, scientific…

“While there is a myriad of expert opinions on what long term effects this pandemic will have on our children and their physical and mental health, we must also remember the age-old idiom: this too shall pass. We must also be sensitive to not add to parents’ already full plates. Meditation is not meant to…

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is a quote by George Santayana. It rings true in so many facets of life and medicine. In my career in psychiatry, I have held fast to this treatise. Psychiatry, as a practice, has changed over the years. We operate with the knowledge that…

I rarely post more than pictures on Facebook. In fact, I rarely use Facebook for much of anything anymore. But I need you all to just listen for a second. I’m scared. For you and for me. I need you all to take a minute and think of the last time that you interacted in-person…

Are you one of the 20 million to 40 million people in the US suffering with migraine headaches? If so, here’s news worth noting: The FDA has just approved an over-the-counter nerve stimulation device that delivers mild electrical shocks to the forehead as a way to prevent or treat migraine headaches. This might seem like…

As the mother of a child born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, besides going through four open-heart surgeries and coding, my son has also had eight abdominal surgeries, including a Ladd’s procedure and resection of his colon.  William also functions without his appendix, spleen, and gall bladder. In addition to every kind of therapy imaginable,…