I am an ICU nurse in Manhattan. I have seen my share of trauma, critical illness, and sorrow. But what is happening in my hospital and hospitals across America is on a scale of the tragedy not even the most seasoned clinician has experienced. My hospit…
Three months ago, none of us thought we would be shifting our practices from office visits and hospital rounds to telemedicine and virtual check-ins. In fact, we would have not only denied it was possible, but touted concern for the decline in patient…
I’m a dermatologist, so I’m not on the front lines of this pandemic. And thanks to public health measures, I may never be called to work at coronavirus drive-thru testing sites because we are flattening the curve of infections. Nevertheless…
I walk into my fifth operating room of the morning. “Good morning, Mr. Jacobs. My name is Dr. Michaelis. I will be the anesthesiologist helping to safely get your breathing tube in as we get your surgery started today.” He nods and closes his eyes. Th…
My parents’ pharmacy is a low slung, white brick building on the corner of East and Main. The front door is strung with silver bells; a jar of red licorice sits by the cash register; automatic scooters line the front of the shop, gleaming like cars at…
Lately, in the face of the coronavirus outbreak, I’ve been fielding calls from patients asking for help with anxiety, depression, and insomnia. People are worried about their health, their families, their jobs, and whether society will be able to get b…
Currently, over 60,000 people in the United States are projected to die from coronavirus. While this is lower than earlier predictions, it is still an appallingly high number. As two emergency medicine physicians, we have been steeling ourselves for …
It was only day one, and I was covered in blood halfway to my elbows from doing chest compressions in the operating room. The room was filled with doctors, nurses, and other OR staff. Empty bags that once contained life-saving blood, plasma, and platel…
I have cared for them both, husband and wife, now in their 80s, for almost 20 years. She is a retired nurse and him from his business. They are so typical of this “greatest generation”: tough, enduring, hard-working, deeply faithful, fervently independ…
What do you need? What do you need right now, and what will you need days, weeks, months from now? Do you need PPE or time off? Do you need hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes? How about testing kits? Swabs? Do you need help keeping your practice aflo…
