AIn college, I learned about the Frank-Starling law of the heart. It is fascinating and demonstrates just one of the bewildering number of human physiologic responses needed to adapt to the demands we place upon our bodies every day. In brief, the Fran…
Fourteen days of social distancing have passed. Emotions are high all around. The wicked foreboding of the mysteriously menacing novel Coronavirus has spared no one. Everyone is scared. The cleaning staff, scrubbing, and wiping just one more time. The …
Arrival to isolation room 45: Recently diagnosed with COVID-19, brought in by ambulance for re-evaluation. I don my new uniform of colorful barriers: red-rimmed eye shield, green N-95, yellow gown, purple gloves. I carefully walk through two sets of do…
As a 4th-year neurosurgery resident, I’ve tried to sink my heels into every aspect of neurosurgical care in order to harness the skills, the knowledge, and the confidence to know that I’ll be ready to provide exceptional care to my own patients at the …
When the COVID-19 pandemic is finally over, health care providers around the world will be asking themselves how we got here. Buying PPE off eBay. Soliciting the public to sew masks. While, as a country, we could have been better prepared, it would not…
An emergency room physician, who I interviewed recently, rented an Airbnb to protect his wife from the virus. He is now separated from his family, alone and fighting to keep safe in New York City, with limited resources and PPE or personal protection …
When I was 18, I decided I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to help people. I wanted to make things better for others. So, I studied hard in college. I couldn’t afford to pay for test prep classes for the medical school entrance exam, so I studied o…
It’s 8 p.m., and I stumble into my apartment and fall into bed. Somehow, I avoided nodding off in the car driving home. I just finished a 36-hour shift, something I thought was an inhumane task. Somehow, I survived on two hours of sleep, incessan…
It’s 8 p.m., and I stumble into my apartment and fall into bed. Somehow, I avoided nodding off in the car driving home. I just finished a 36-hour shift, something I thought was an inhumane task. Somehow, I survived on two hours of sleep, incessan…
In between snippets of conversation exchanged with my husband about how the first day of remote learning went for our 9 year old and whether the latest nanny was likely to quit given health risks associated with working in a two-physician frontline wor…
