Earlier this summer, the Trump administration announced new rules that would eliminate asylum eligibility for people arriving from countries where COVID-19 is “prevalent,” even if they are fleeing for their lives. This is the latest in a st…
Category: KevinMD
Doctors shouldn’t feel ashamed for wanting to protect themselves or their family [PODCAST]
“Although I personally hope to continue to be at or near the frontlines, I understand those that are in a compromised position, and they shouldn’t feel ashamed for wanting to protect themselves or their family. There is no portion of the Hippocra…
The case for compassionate communication
A majority of physicians see between 11 and 20 patients per day, and among all practices, the majority of doctors spend between 17 and 24 minutes with each patient. Assuming a five-day workweek, this translates to more than 900 patient interactions per…
The culture of medicine forces us to ignore our health
It’s the first day of fellowship, and everyone’s getting to know each other. “Oh, you won’t have time to work out here.” I’m not the small, scrawny kid I was back in high school anymore, even if that’s the pers…
4 ways to break the COVID-19 compassion walls
A few days after my dad flew to Salt Lake City from California, he developed a small cough and fatigue, and then started getting fevers. At that time in late February and early March, we were only testing people who had come from high-risk countries (l…
Don’t pick your specialty based on the potential income you might make
When I speak to medical students and residents, their number one question is, “Should I follow my passion or choose a specialty that pays well?” With so many students finishing their training deeply in debt, they are feeling a push to go into a special…
Patient no-shows often have complicated reasons behind them [PODCAST]
“I typed up a brief response to the no show memo, hit reply, and then deleted the original message. It’s not that I am a fan of wasting time and resources, but for now, I have a general personal policy to never dismiss pregnant patients. I’d have…
7 habits of highly resilient physicians
Before the pandemic, we had an epidemic of physician burnout, with many physicians caught in a cycle of exhaustion, cynicism, and loss of purpose. All the change and uncertainty the virus has brought certainly doesn’t help! It’s now more im…
The quest for external worthiness is exhausting. The experience of internal worthiness is exhilarating.
We often think something will or someone can make us feel better. When the system appears broken, the culture toxic, the space unwelcoming, we are uncomfortable. To feel more comfortable, we seek to change the surroundings and, when that seems impossib…
My intersection of race and privilege with COVID-19
I am a 40-year-old Black, female pediatric psychologist, and I contracted COVID-19. So did my 95-year-old grandmother. This virus flourishes within the inequities, bred by historical and current racism, of social determinants of health, having a more…
