“Frontline workers may have temporarily experienced a heightened sense of personal success and gratification, but I doubt many of us are still able to feel satisfied at this point, after all the repeated moral injuries and losing so many patients…
Category: Infectious disease
Which is better: Psychotherapy using video or in-person while wearing masks?
At the very start of the pandemic last year, I met with a couple of patients in the office while we wore masks. Based on that limited experience, I quickly concluded that seeing each other’s faces was of paramount importance, even if over video. That…
Crossing the liminal space of the pandemic
We have been walking down a long hallway for many, many months. We left the room we resided in pre-COVID, but we have not yet found a room to rest. We are in the liminal space of COVID. This is unsettling and unnerving — liminal space often is. Liminal…
I was thinking about retiring, and COVID-19 gave me a push [PODCAST]
“Last March, I was working in a small primary care practice on the west side of Denver. COVID-19 came to town. On Thursday, March 12, we were told the schools would be closing. On Friday, we were told that clinic staff had to wear masks — and the…
The dimming of the shining city
In March 1630, John Winthrop delivered the treatise “A Model of Christian Charity” at Holyrood Church in Southampton, England, prior to leading the first settlers of the Massachusetts Bay colony on their to journey to the New World. In his …
Does pro-vaccine always have to be pro-mandate?
“They are firing me for not getting the COVID vaccine. I can make more money working at Michael’s than I do at this job. I was only doing this because I like to help people. But this is it for me. I’m quitting. I’ll miss the pat…
Ivermectin is a Nobel Prize-winning wonder drug
Ivermectin is an over 30-year-old wonder drug that treats life- and sight-threatening parasitic infections. Its lasting influence on global health has been so profound that two of the key researchers in its discovery and development won the Nobel Prize…
Compassion fatigue and the unvaccinated
“Do you get compassion fatigue when you take care of smokers or patients with obesity or diabetes?” This was in reply to an article on compassion fatigue I had posted on my Facebook page. The article was written by an exhausted physician ca…
Honor your oath. Set boundaries. Demand respect.
This morning, while scrolling through social media, I encountered a resounding theme. Multiple physicians posting about being challenged, disrespected, and made to feel worthless by the very people they were trying to help: their patients. Being brough…
Looking at the studies behind masks
With the recent onset of the Delta variant rendering havoc on an already strained economy and weary population post- the rabid COVID-19 surge, there is much debate on effective policies that negate the harmful outcomes of viral acquisition. The B.1.617…
