I look at the mirror at a tired naked face as I don my surgical mask over my hijab with my makeshift tie to keep my mask on since I can’t tie them on my ears. My kids at home are doing their remote learning, like many other kids around the world….
Category: KevinMD
Medical students in solidarity: Black Lives Matter
Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd. We speak their names out when they no longer can. As a medical student, I have learned and recognized the many prejudices underlying our healthcare system against persons of color. Racism runs rampant in hos…
Detention facilities cannot respond adequately to this pandemic
In the world of pediatrics, my colleagues and I remain vigilant about the threat of coronavirus to children. Every week, we learn more information about new presentations of COVID-19, such as novel inflammatory syndromes. Still, I am hopeful that with …
Health care workers have a role to play in Black Lives Matter
Health care workers need to start talking about white people killing black people, and here’s why: every victim of racial violence will be seen by a health care professional at or near the time of the event. We in the health care community are often th…
It’s OK to mourn your wedding
I went through the five stages of grief when we lost our wedding to COVID-19. The denial: “I’m sure this will be over by summer.” The anger: “This is so unfair! I’ve planned this for two years.” The bargaining: “We’ll just push it back to July, no need…
Does the EMR improve or worsen patient safety?
An excerpt from When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error. One of the selling points for the electronic medical record (EMR) was that it would be a boon for patient safety. Just having all the medical records in one place is a monumental improv…
Traumatic grief during COVID-19
I don’t presume to know the individual experiences and feelings of providers and frontline workers right now during this crisis, but, as someone who has specialized in psychological trauma and traumatic grief for many years, here are some thought…
Emergency psychiatry during COVID-19 [PODCAST]
“The reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic in the comprehensive psychiatric emergency program (CPEP) began insidiously, with an initial sense of unease. Patients are brought into CPEP when they pose a danger to themselves or others. Often they are br…
Telemedicine is making our patient-doctor relationships more human. And that’s a good thing.
COVID-19 essentially shut down my in-person primary care practice, and we immediately turned to telemedicine (“seeing” a patient virtually either through a phone or video-based visit). My primary care group did this out of necessity, but nobody predict…
Parenting as an ICU physician
COVID-19 has upended the medical community. Nowhere more so than in the intensive care unit. Life as an intensivist with two young children and a working spouse is never dull. I liken it to tight-rope walking with a pole for balance. I wake up every mo…
