Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! In this episode, guest Sara L. Merwin, co-author of The Informed Patient: A Complete Guide to a Hospital Stay, shares her experience helping a family navigate their loved one’s hospit…
Category: COVID
Healing from the pandemic: a journey to recovery
While it appears we are on the downhill slope of COVID-19’s integration into everyday life, burnout rates are rising, and organizational trust is taking a nose-dive. Aren’t we supposed to be in the post-disaster recovery phase? What is the …
The vaccination dilemma: Protecting patient rights or caregiver freedom?
Recently, I heard a news report regarding several state attorneys general suing the federal government to eliminate the requirement that health care providers be immunized against COVID. They argued that as fully immunized individuals still contract CO…
Gratitude takes practice. How come health care workers aren’t better at it?
Like interest rates and food prices, burnout among health care providers continues to rise. From my perch—as a hospitalist in a large tertiary hospital—the sheer terror of the early days of the COVID pandemic has been replaced by a grinding fatigue fue…
Why are doctors sued and politicians aren’t?
During the COVID pandemic health care workers needed to work tirelessly to correct the false information that politicians easily spread through the country. The President made claims that the virus was not real, that physicians were getting financial k…
Mostly miserables: a physician-mother’s struggle during COVID-19
It was the year 2020 — the month of March. The world shifted on its axis in ways we could not imagine. The job of a physician-mother is one of never-ending tightrope walking while juggling batons on fire and crystal figurines, all while herding cats. Y…
Against all odds: How two cities tackled the COVID-19 crisis
An excerpt from On Medicine as Colonialism. In Central Falls, Rhode Island, where I work, the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard. People who live in Central Falls, the smallest and poorest city in Rhode Island, live in densely packed houses, often eight or ten…
The isolation of the COVID ICU: the need for patient advocates
The COVID ICU is abuzz with monitors beeping and doctors and nurses rushing from bed to bed to care for critically ill patients, most on ventilators. The machines – dialysis, vents, pumps – sound off their rhythmic repetitions; breaths are pushed in an…
Saying goodbye: the tragic impact of COVID-19 on families
“No, no, no! I’m having a nightmare!” She shrieked through the phone. I couldn’t bear to hear it as words fell clumsily out of my mouth. “Your husband couldn’t breathe on his own. We had to put him on a ventilator. I…
Care aides in long-term care were traumatized during COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on long-term care in Canada. During the first two waves in 2020, over 80 percent of all Canadian COVID-19 deaths happened in long-term care homes. While vaccination and policy changes have helped to reduce the number…
