Category: KevinMD

Coronavirus can be controlled, but we must embrace sacrifice

In the midst of this coronavirus pandemic, a friend of mine relayed a troubling story to me recently. My friend is a dermatologist who is 9-months pregnant, living and working in a county with no known community spread of the novel coronavirus. After s…

I’m grateful my father never lived to see the COVID-19 outbreak

My dad was a baseball enthusiast and a connoisseur of fried calamari and dark chocolate.  He had a genius-level IQ and knew the answers to obscure Jeopardy questions.  He would beat you at any trivia game.  He was an avid reader, typically reading at l…

The opioid crisis is real. But so is pain.

“I’m not impressed with his pain.” “I only give Norco if I see a bone sticking out.” “She says her pain is a 10/10 but …” On any given shift in the emergency room, I hear some version of these said by res…

Frontline clinicians deserve hazard pay

These are interesting times.  Our schools are shut down.  Transportation halted.  Businesses shuttered.  Public spaces abandoned.  Cities locked down.  Stock markets crashing.  It is the greatest disruption to life we have faced since 9/11, and this wi…

Innovation in the time of COVID-19

Necessity is the mother of invention, and in no time is invention more necessary than during a global pandemic.  Starting with the drive-through testing clinics pioneered overseas that spread to the United States (big shout-out to the University of Was…

7 ideas for an alternative Match Day

As a cardiologist, a mom of three school-aged kids, a physician’s wife, and associate dean of student affairs, I am acutely aware of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our communities. In this time of constant change and concern, it is important to…

Independent practice and the lost art of touch

I am a geriatric psychiatrist and am an osteopathic physician. The art of touch is a major part of my practice. I am the medical director of an inpatient geriatric facility. The patients that I see on the unit are typically suffering from dementia with…

My colleagues are nervous. My patients are crying. And yet, we are here.

Do you remember when you were a bright-eyed pre-med student, head bowed at the computer, typing your personal statement? Type, type … backspace, backspace … type. You didn’t want to use the phrase “to help people” in your statement as your reason for w…

A critical first step in helping physicians cope with the stresses of practice

The rapid advances of medical science, patients’ expectations, the loss of autonomy, insurers’ regulations, fears of litigation, and the documentation burden of recording patient data on electronic medical records all contribute to widespread physician…

Pollution in China and Iran are worsening the coronavirus

The baffling spread of the novel coronavirus has given many scientists and policymakers pause. There may be some important clues in the patterns the disease is leaving that tell us quite a bit about what conditions can hasten its spread and even worsen…