In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is difficult to assimilate the global transformation that has taken place in just a few short months. As we each struggle to make sense of this life-altering event, it might help to reflect on pandemics’…
Category: COVID-19 / coronavirus
The critical role of physicians as pandemic truth-tellers
A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD. Because of their unpredictable occurrence, ubiquitous nature, and the fact that they present us with a previously unknown disease to learn and manage, pandemics have always pos…
COVID-19 vaccines: Channeling the 7 habits to get from vaccines to vaccinations
In the U.S. and worldwide, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19 are surging. The health care workforce is overworked, and increasingly, more people appear to be experiencing mask fatigue. In the midst of this, there is exciting news. A few…
Dear families: We are strong, but we are tired
After 33 years as an ICU RN, I had finally decided I couldn’t do this anymore. It was my last nightshift. The last shift convinced me I had made the right decision. The CNA and I went door to door to turn each ICU patient that was not capable of turnin…
A message to medical interns, in the midst of a pandemic [PODCAST]
“Ultimately, our job is a difficult one. It’s hard to take usual comfort in heartwarming statistics or hollow promises of prosperity when you find yourself loving and grieving your patients. I have found there is comfort and an impenetrable hope …
Rusty nails and first aid: silver linings of COVID-19
It’s 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning in September of my second year of medical school. My brother, father, and I are chucking the used wood from our construction site into a U-Haul, prepping the wood for its ill fate of an indoor dumpster. Hundreds of mil…
Without trust, we face an uphill battle in defeating COVID-19
My annual routine of recommending the flu shot to my patients is now more critical than ever before. But when I asked one of my patients recently about getting the flu shot, she said: “No, not really. I’m worried it will give me the flu and make me sic…
Physicians who work themselves into the ground are nothing to be proud of
There were recently many news articles and coverage exalting a physician for working 250 straight days during COVID. 250 days, that’s nearly 8 1/2 months without a day off. While this physician displays dedication and caring, I don’t think we should ce…
2 a.m. thoughts of an emergency physician during the pandemic
Ooh child Things are gonna get easier. Ooh child Things’ll get brighter. I sing these words to my one-year-old son quite often; I believe them. I’ll never lose hope. Hospitalizations hit greater than 90,000 yesterday, and the trajectory is fright…
The potential for violence against health care workers during COVID-19
Recently, the FBI foiled an attempt to kidnap the governor of Michigan. The entire story reads like a Tom Clancy novel: a group of disgruntled strangers meets and organizes through chat rooms online. They conduct tactical training in the woods, do su…
