Not in hospitals. Not in the clinics. Not spending an hour suturing a laceration, so the resident is available to help others. Not reminding the team that it’s the day, and we should consider stopping the antibiotics. Not presenting on the latest…
Category: Hospital-Based Medicine
No time to grieve: fears of a resident physician during the COVID-19 pandemic
I work at a hospital that, like many others, has taken significant steps to prepare for a surge of COVID-19 cases in the next days to weeks. Many of our residents were sent home while assigned to elective services where we are “nonessential,̶…
Relax documentation requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced several measures guiding the care of patients during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Another important action that will immensely help the health care workers at the forefront is to reduce the d…
A message from an emergency physicians to those in business
I’m a medical doctor. Day to day, I focus on the practice of emergency medicine. I’ve never considered myself an alarmist. Actually, I’ve been trained to be calm in the face of tragedy. Many of my friends in business are concerned tha…
A message to administrators from physicians: Lead, follow, or get out of the way
We represent the front lines in this ongoing crisis, and we are disheartened by not only the lack of support but overwhelming greed from just about all of you. We have kept our mouths shut and practiced medicine, providing excellent patient care, while…
What’s going to happen? What’s going on? I wish someone could tell me.
The waiting room is empty, and I take signout on five patients. The patients that typically line the hallways waiting for beds, for stress tests, for MRIs all stayed home. The familiar drunks still get their blister-packed turkey sandwiches. There’s a …
Thoughts from the COVID-19 front lines
I am an internal medicine physician directly taking care of patients admitted to the hospital who are COVID-19 positive or those who are being tested for COVID-19. Last week, my hospital created a special team dedicated to taking care of these patients…
The pandemic is bringing us home
It began last week in our neighborhood, between the locals, who, out for a breath of fresh air, and dutifully in line with the new social distancing rules, began to shout back and forth through the crisp March air. “Good morning! I hope you’re well!” “…
Health care workers are heroes
I spent the last week working in a large community hospital in a state with a soaring number of coronavirus cases. I previously had a few days off while this whole situation was escalating, and heard from colleagues that our hospital was taking huge me…
Don’t underestimate patients’ emotions
There’s a saying in medicine that: “If you’re holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” It’s our way of acknowledging that we all suffer from a particular set of blinders unique to our own specialties. Usually, our …
