“We desperately want to be part of it. For most of us, this pandemic has tapped at a foundational, altruistic urge to do our part. Our friends and loved ones are on the frontlines, their faces creased by masks worn all day, their eyes bloodshot, …
Category: Infectious disease
How the pandemic is affecting the residents [PODCAST]
“When the director of my general surgery program asked for a report on how the pandemic was affecting the residents, I queried my colleagues, promising anonymity to encourage candor. I received a wide variety of responses and reactions. Some are …
Coping with fear as a physician [PODCAST]
“Few physicians feel properly prepared to face the fear caused by this pandemic. I certainly did not. However, we continue to show up every day for our colleagues and our patients. We continue to focus on our jobs and the things that we can do to…
In memory of all the fathers lost to COVID-19
In April, I lost my dad to COVID-19, and this Father’s Day is going to be very difficult. As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that there are many people out there suffering the same fate. Each death is not just a statistic. Each number r…
The pandemic exposes the need for humanism
Before COVID-19, I could only ponder the importance of human connection in medicine, of narrowing the physical and emotional space between physician and patient. I wondered where we had wandered as a profession, one struggling to reconnect with the hum…
Breaking bad news to patients when they are alone [PODCAST]
“Today, we got called on a patient in the ICU who recently had a new brain mass removed surgically. The specimen came back positive for an aggressive brain tumor known as glioblastoma multiforme. We discussed his diagnosis and prognosis with him …
What does it mean to be responsible during the COVID-19 pandemic?
As women physicians, especially physician moms and women physicians of color, we have handled and achieved more than the vast majority of the population, in order to reach our current status of physician. We do because we can. We are Superwomen. Until …
How COVID is exposing poor working conditions in the U.S.
It has been about three weeks since I’ve had my favorite tortilla. The plant that makes them, located on the lower west side of Chicago, closed after one of its workers died of COVID-19. Unlike workers in the meat-packing industry, the employees …
Are you a mask wimp? Get over it.
As the reopening was being evaluated, I found myself contemplating the routine use of a mask in public. I was already wearing it 12 hours a day in the hospital. On one of the clinic days, after constantly conversing while wearing the mask, I also found…
A pathologist’s urgent pandemic message to the public [PODCAST]
“The events over the last couple of weeks have affected me deeply. Of course, I’m concerned about a novel virus that is infecting and killing people. But, I’m more distraught over the reaction of the people, the response of the state and federal …
