Category: KevinMD

How to prevent coronavirus: Your COVID-19 questions answered by a public health professional

1. What can I do to prevent becoming infected? When people are sick with a respiratory disease like COVID-19, they cough or sneeze particles into the air. If someone is coughing near you, the virus could easily land on your eyes, nose, or mouth. These …

COVID-19’s biggest threat is to the health of our economy

“Made in China.” Words ubiquitous throughout the products we use every day and now, ironically, applicable to the virus that has laid siege around the world.  Illness and death have spread across borders and continents, as well as fear and …

A great nurse shares their knowledge and does not judge

As a new nurse, I was constantly overwhelmed.  I had spent four years of my life learning how to become a nurse, and then here I was, being “a nurse” and wondering all the time whether I was even any good at it. My heart was in it. But every moment of …

System failure: We need a reboot to better handle intersectionality

In medical school, physicians learn how to diagnose and treat medical conditions. We learn about all the different presentations and revel in catching a complex or rare diagnosis. In essence, we learn to categorize disorders based on a cluster of sympt…

Here’s why doctors are financially depressed

Finances were reported as the second leading cause of physician depression for men and women in 2018. Doctors, like anyone else, face normal challenges that life throws at them. Additionally, they carry a huge weight on their shoulders as they go throu…

My first physician colleague who died by suicide

I was busy running around the ER on a particularly busy shift when my phone buzzed, and a text message from Jane’s ex-boyfriend David popped up on the screen. I was surprised since I had not talked to him in over three years; therefore, I ignored…

An infectious disease doctor answers your COVID-19 and coronavirus questions

Being a specialist in infectious diseases right now is an interesting experience. Added to the usual challenges of our everyday practice — caring for people receiving transplants or chemotherapy, those with HIV, surgical infections, tropical diseases, …

6 months of probation: Taking care of someone with alcohol-related liver disease

“Are you my doctor?” Mary* asked me, as I, a resident physician, approached her bed. “Yes, I am one of the primary medical doctors taking care of you here,” I confirmed with my standard, pre-scripted introduction — with little a…

6 months of probation: Taking care of someone with alcohol-related liver disease

“Are you my doctor?” Mary* asked me, as I, a resident physician, approached her bed. “Yes, I am one of the primary medical doctors taking care of you here,” I confirmed with my standard, pre-scripted introduction — with little a…

The physician and the sacred art of medicine

Corpses. A sea of corpses. The smell of death was unmistakable. Its pungent odor snaked around corridors and made its way to the basement, where we stood in line to go up to the anatomy lab for the first time. My heart was racing. All along the walls w…