Category: KevinMD

Trained immunity in the fight against COVID

It is probably a very good friend right now. COVID-19 vaccine trials are underway in an unprecedented fashion.  But lately, questions about the integrity of Operation Warp Speed have started to linger.  A vaccine availability deadline prior to phase 3 …

What is anti-racist medical education?

The current socio-political environment in the U.S. and worldwide has brought much-needed attention and heightened awareness to the plights of minoritized groups, especially Black and African-American communities. Police brutality, structural violence,…

Sunscreens: The balancing act between safety and cancer prevention

That’s the question that will be on the minds of many as the Food and Drug Administration releases a second study on the absorption of sunscreens. The reality is that answering the “safe” question is becoming more complicated—and more important as well…

COVID-19 reveals gaping holes in locum tenens contracts [PODCAST]

“I called the locum agency in the morning to air my concerns. To their credit, they admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event for which no one could have planned. They had developed a fund through which they could support heal…

5 ways COVID-19 threatens sports as we know it

Americans are in a sprint to return to the sports they love. Players want to play, coaches want to coach, and teams want to see fans in the stands sooner than later. But what if a return to sports (as they once were) winds up being more of a marathon t…

I cured my patient, but what was his diagnosis?

He canceled his follow-up appointment because he was feeling fine. He didn’t see the point in wasting a Saturday to come to my clinic when he had lawns to mow and chores to do. Less than two weeks before that, he was sitting on the exam table in my off…

Physicians work in a culture of fear-driven productivity

As we had our all agency meeting at work the other day, involving mental health employees from all three of our sites and from all types of job descriptions, I was struck by something that came up as we discussed issues of cultural diversity. We had ha…

What do you picture when you think of health care?

What do you picture when you think of health care? How different is that from your vision of health? Is it possible to connect these two mental images? Can they be merged directly or at by way of a bridge? When I envision health, I see images of vitali…

The failure of the U.S. government’s physicians to do good, avoid harm, and tell the truth

Medicine is a moral pursuit. Physicians inherit the tools of medicine not only through their training, but also by taking an oath to do good, avoid harm, and tell the truth. Hippocrates, the father of medical ethics, realized that the tools he possesse…

Health care should be apolitical, but it isn’t [PODCAST]

“COVID-19 is a tragedy that could have easily been prevented if our leaders cared more about the well-being of their citizens instead of economies, stock markets, and their political campaigns. To all those arguing about how the economy is more i…