Category: Infectious disease

A physician-parent’s thoughts on reopening schools

Spoiler alert: If you are looking for the “right” answer as to whether or not your school should reopen for in-person teaching or if you should send your kid to school (versus virtual learning), you will not find that answer below.  But you will find s…

Why we need clear face masks

Have you noticed yourself straining to hear people wearing masks? Me too. Every interaction I have these days feels exhausting. I worry about how hard this will be in the busy ER, and especially for my colleagues and friends with trouble hearing. Even …

Medical students are benched during the pandemic

Anyone who has ever played sports knows the feeling of being “benched.” I’ll recall my own experience participating in middle school football. I worked exceptionally hard during practice to prove myself to the coaches. A burning, ince…

A code in the time of COVID-19

The first time I had ever been present when a patient was in cardiac arrest, I was a medical student, spending a night in the emergency department of a small local hospital. An old woman was rushed in from home after she had fallen over at the dinner t…

My new normal moral injury

Whatever we call it—burnout, moral injury, disillusionment, work fatigue, hopelessness—these did not appear to apply to me before the COVID-19 pandemic. I tried to keep up on discussions about how moral injury is a pervasive and destructive force leadi…

International medical graduates are crucial in our battle against COVID-19

This past year, I served as an internal medicine resident at St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, New York. And this month, I officially started my anesthesiology residency at Brown. Working as a doctor amid the coronavirus pandemic has been…

How physicians can share health information and manage dissent online [PODCAST]

“In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am both hopeful and inspired as well as disappointed. I see those angry that their ideas or opinions conflict with science. Instead of the steady path and hard work of building bridges, they create divisio…

The loss of a paycheck is a major traumatic situation. The loss of life is worse.

It’s mid-summer. Time for family vacations, camping trips, backyard barbeques with family and friends, all the great things we look forward to during those cold days of winter. However, where do most of us find ourselves right now? I’ll tel…

Physicians’ role in bridging the COVID-19 health recommendations divide

It has been a summer of disconcerting milestones for the US. Over 4 million people have now been infected with the novel coronavirus, and over 140,000 have lost their lives according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The country reported over 77,0…

Should I send my child back to school? A letter to parents.

This is the million-dollar question that I’ve been asked over and over again by distraught parents wanting to do right by their children. Parents want to have their children stay home so they can keep them healthy and safe. At the same time, they are w…