In the HBO miniseries Chernobyl, there’s a scene where one of the supervisors, Dyatlov, is told there has been a breach of the nuclear reactor. When he hears that their radiation detectors are maxing out at 3.6 Roetgen, he casually responds, “3.6 Roetg…
Upon walking through the revolving door that guards the hospital’s main entrance, I was ushered by security staff to join the queues of my peers, also seeking passage to their respective posts. “The new policy,” the officer explained, examining my hosp…
These are tremendous times that we have never faced before. A novel virus, lack of preparation time, and a healthcare system that already runs at near capacity, we have a disaster of epic proportions on our hands. What can we do? What should we do? Ho…
I am an anesthesiologist. I am trained to stay calm when everything surrounding me is going downhill. In the OR, I am the anchor. The steady hand, the ready plans. I work with skilled CRNAs who are an integral part of the team. We do critical care med…
Many moons ago, in the 1970’s era, when no imposition from physically brutal on-call schedules to laudable scut to demeaning attendings was outside the boundaries of the house staff training curriculum, our leaders informed us that we were being introd…
We are health care workers. We are doctors, advanced care practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and so much more. We are on the frontlines. We are our parents’ children, and we are parents to our young children. For the first time, …
Prayer is a funny thing. I guess it’s like an N95 protective mask to guard you against COVID-19. You don’t realize how valuable and precious it is until you’re without it, and sadly we are all running low. For the past 25 years of my career as an emerg…
Doctors used to be heroes. We used to be universally respected. Our opinions used to mean something. And now? Now the president of the United States goes on live TV and vilifies us. Pointing the finger, shifting the blame to us as the reason you can’t …
I had my first full day of telemedicine today. Telemedicine is my happy place. For the last two years, I have provided telepsychiatry for a rural facility in my home state. I had the privilege of talking to my patients in their homes today. I was beyo…
The number of COVID-19 cases now exceeds 378,000 worldwide. This new coronavirus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, is having unprecedented global effects. The number of deaths in Italy surpasses 6,000, and there is a lock-down in many countries. The number of…
