“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, …
Category: Conditions
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 …
A new vaccine emoji to get more COVID-19 shots into arms
A public health expert and a web developer have created a new digital communication tool to get more COVID-19 shots into arms — a vaccine emoji. Social media users have been using the syringe, microbe, or mask emoji in their posts to talk about t…
Education is the key to moving past the pandemic
Our country is seventeen months into a pandemic that we have an effective vaccine for, and yet, COVID-19 cases are still rising at an alarming rate. Currently, this dramatic acceleration in cases is evident in several states. Furthermore, these areas …
