Category: Conditions

Try this new technique when talking to vaccine skeptics

“Trust and confidence in any product — and here the vaccine is the product — starts with confidence in the process and safety.” -Payam N., Vaccine Outreach Supervisor While training over 1,800 vaccine outreach workers enrolled in the UCSF P…

Try this new technique when talking to vaccine skeptics

“Trust and confidence in any product — and here the vaccine is the product — starts with confidence in the process and safety.” -Payam N., Vaccine Outreach Supervisor While training over 1,800 vaccine outreach workers enrolled in the UCSF P…

Climate change is a public health crisis: a look into the Pacific Northwest heatwave

“Your zip code is a better predictor of your health than your genetic code.” For residents in the Pacific Northwest who recently faced a record-breaking heatwave, this statement hits close to home. The World Weather Attribution initiative, …

This light is theirs alone

Our memories are tricky. Whether we inflate experiences in recollection or allow their wonder to slip back among the ordinary depends on our perspectives at the time between present and past. The trouble is that we are no good at knowing in which direc…

You are not “asleep” under anesthesia

“You will be asleep for your surgery,” anesthesiologists often reassure their patients. Just before the start of anesthesia, a patient may hear the nurse saying, “Think of a nice dream as you go off to sleep.” While these statements are intended to soo…

How to get young patients vaccinated against COVID-19

Vaccinations have long been a routine part of practice in late summer and early fall for pediatricians and family physicians. Back to school brings enrollment vaccination requirements and sports physicals, as well as the opportunity to bring young pati…

Do you have an anti-fat bias?

When Linda said she wanted to weigh 150 pounds, her doctors balked. In the fall of 2020, Linda weighed over twice that number. Her obesity was causing her debilitating knee pain, leading her to miss work as a mammography technician, a job she loved. Wa…

The moral destruction of ICU nurses

Maybe we can take a deep breath — and breathe out slowly. Perhaps we can check our pulse. Go on that vacation far away or visit a beach and watch the crashing waves. Listen to the seagulls, the breeze, the blue skies. And turn our cell phones off. But …

CDC updates indoor mask guidance

Due to emerging science about transmission in vaccinated people, the CDC now recommends all teachers and students wear masks in school, and that people living in COVID-19 hotspots, or areas of the country with large outbreaks, wear masks indoors, CDC o…

Health care workers betrayed: Mask mandates were lifted too early

A year ago, I started writing.  I wrote to process what I had seen and done and to prepare for what I knew was to come.  It was inevitable.  Humans would return to their normal activities, and despite mine and so many others’ advice, would do so …