“As a physician anesthesiologist who has previously been on assignment for Doctors Without Borders in a resource-depleted region fraught with conflict, I’d like to say there’s little I haven’t seen. But now, after four weeks of staffing COVID int…
Category: KevinMD
I transitioned to a non-clinical career. What did that mean?
Career transition is talked about a whole lot more these days than it was in 2004. Maybe I just notice it more now. Back then, I felt like I was the only one doing it. You know how it is when you are going through something difficult, and you feel u…
Why remdesivir may not be a wonder drug
Gilead’s $1,000-a-pill antiviral remdesivir is no wonder drug. We knew this when it failed for hepatitis, the disease it was created for. And then when it failed for Ebola. And then again, when it failed for COVID-19. But like a bolt, in late Apr…
These are the doctors under the PPE
They are physicians, mentors, partners, mothers, sisters, friends, colleagues – but most evidently, at the moment, they are heroes. I (virtually) sat down with five women physicians, at all points in their medical careers, who are working in seve…
What’s worse than a doctor getting cancer behind prison walls? Try COVID.
He could hear the football game playing on a radio outside his room, so he knew someone was there, and he knew he was dying. He screamed and screamed as the paralysis from what he was sure was sepsis took over more and more of his body. No one answere…
I will be a cardiologist with a subspecialty in resilience
I am writing this as I lay in bed, feverish, sweaty, and persistent dry cough. I have been sick with presumed COVID-19 for the past ten days. I have quarantined myself from my wife and two sons, unable to hug or reassure them that everything will be ok…
With voices unified, medical students are heard
When a coalition of medical organizations, led by the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), petitioned in 2001 to cap medical resident work hours, they were turned down by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Despite their r…
The social worker and a patient’s homicidal thoughts
“Howard wants to go to the hospital. He knows he isn’t doing that great. He says he is having homicidal thoughts.” This from my supervisor, Linda. Homicidal thoughts on the part of any client get our attention, especially so with Howa…
How to mitigate risk and foster resilience among vulnerable populations during COVID-19
Over the past two months, health professionals and community advocates have brought to the fore of national attention what has been the lived experience of many within black and brown communities for ages — racism kills. The substrate of structural rac…
How to ride the wave of adoration for health care professionals
Health care is enjoying an abundance of positive attention as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. My question, my challenge, is how can we sustain this love-fest between the public and the health care profession even after we obtain a vaccine or an e…
