During clinical training, medical students worry about caring for patients, learning how to do procedures, memorizing drug interactions, and documenting their work in the electronic medical record —they shouldn’t be worried about paying medical bills at the same time. Shortages of personal protective equipment and the subsequent dangers of working in health care permeate the news and threaten our ability to overcome the COVID pandemic. However, there is another often-neglected ...
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As of October 2019, the small country of Lebanon began its descent into its worst economic collapse in modern history. Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lebanese currency has lost nearly 85 percent of its value on the black market, and the inflation rate within the country has surpassed even that of Syria, with the worst still to come. As a result, unemployment rates have been climbing, countless businesses, both ...
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A quarter of the physician workforce in the United States consists of international medical graduates (IMGs). This year 4,222 non-U.S. citizens matched in first-year residency positions. I am an IMG from Guatemala, where I completed medical school. In March of 2014, I matched to an internal medicine residency in the United States. The road has been both satisfying and challenging, with all kinds of uncertainties. I ...
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Born in the United States of America to Nigerian parents, I was raised in Nigeria and returned to the U.S. after medical school for residency training. I have practiced medicine in Chicago, IL for 25 years, and like many others, have had to deal with microaggressions and racism within and outside the workplace. However, this article is not aheabout outlining my personal experiences. This is a call to action to ...
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In a market economy, business leaders take every opportunity to shrink the cost line of labor on the balance sheet to boost profits and shareholder/investor value. It's the metric on which they are evaluated, and left unopposed; they will do it more and more.
The core strategy for shrinking labor costs (along with automation and offshoring) is to drive increased "efficiencies" by demanding more and more work from the same number ...
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I look out at the world through bright blue eyes. Blonde hair. A skinny but shapely 19-year-old’s body. I know six languages. I am educated. I can prescribe medicine that saves lives. I am in love. I am a person.
I look down at the tattoo on my arm. A number— like cattle. My family is gone. My home destroyed. I am living in a small room— ...
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The daily email update on COVID-19 affecting our hospital system is a glaring reflection of the health disparities amongst those in marginalized groups. The farther south you go, generally in San Diego, the higher the number of socioeconomically disadvantaged persons, and that tends to include a disproportionate number of persons of color. These populations may be unable to physically distance due to living conditions and job conditions. Perhaps there is ...
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I am Jewish, bisexual, and female. Statistically, these three identities put me at risk for experiencing violence in this country. But I am also white, and so I am not afraid. I can go for runs in my neighborhood without fear of being attacked. I can shop in fancy stores without fear of being followed. And I can go to sleep at night without fear of police knocking down my ...
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Public health has never been more important. As the coronavirus waxes and wanes, it is crucial that our evolving understanding of COVID-19 translate into our everyday lives. Our collective response to the virus will be much improved with an acknowledgment that our scientific knowledge is dynamic, and that we may have to alter our behaviors as scientists unearth more information about the virus’s transmissibility and lethality.
Nowhere is this evolving understanding ...
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We dealt with the death, uncertainty, and fear of COVID-19 with a stiff upper lip. But our hearts broke when George Floyd was murdered by the police on May 25. George is a symbol of an immense problem. A study reported that one in every thousand Black men can expect to be killed by the police. One in every thousand! Racially directed violence by the police is a public health ...
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Slavery has been part of countless cultures. Slavery is hideous but was not a founding principle of the United States. The founding fathers had differing views on slavery. However, in drafting the Declaration of Independence, the founders planted the seeds that would lead to emancipation.
Watching media, one would not know that. In 2017, Angela Rye, a CNN political commentator, stated that she wanted statues of Jefferson and Washington to come ...
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Black bodies are dying, and medical schools are partially to blame. Never did I imagine that I would come to the realization that as a medical student; I was being trained and conditioned to identify and treat conditions predominately in white people. It is time for medical institutions to address how medical school curriculums, which use whiteness as a scale to define normal, contributes to increased rates of mortality and ...
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In the United States, there is clear evidence that minority populations continue to be underrepresented in clinical research related to new therapies for common and serious long-term medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). This is despite these same populations facing a continuing and disproportionate burden of T2D, which shows no signs of abating.
Black people have one of the highest rates of T2D (13.2 percent), a rate almost twice ...
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Primary care is on life support. COVID-19’s toll on American health care extends beyond the hospitals and medical workers besieged by infection. An equally insidious but less-visible crisis is engulfing primary care, the long-neglected foundation of our health care system. Given the role of America’s largest corporations in providing health care benefits, the C-suite should be on high alert.
As growing numbers of patients postpone appointments over concerns about ...
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I feet truly honored to have been asked to speak at your graduation and to have a chance to share on this day with all of you. We are experiencing a truly singular moment, and I imagine you are hoping that I might say something that would be comforting or inspiring, and I really can’t think what that could possibly be.
For the last half of your third year of residency, ...
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Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic gripped New York City, I have come to dread calling home to my parents. Every conversation ultimately leads to the question: “Is everyone okay?” This is always followed by a pause as my parents consider how much to tell me. Over the past few months, I learned on an almost weekly basis of a new family member, family friend, or neighbor who was hospitalized, transferred ...
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A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.
The recent occurrence of widespread civil unrest in the context of the coronavirus pandemic has challenged us as physicians about our appropriate role in dealing with both.
The response of doctors to the pandemic has been fairly straightforward. The central role of individual physicians ...
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Across the globe, the month of March became a turning point for the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst daily clinical updates, dramatic increase in cases, and rapid policy changes, International Women's Day – an observance that allows gender equality to take the spotlight – came and went. Since March, COVID-19 worsened existing health disparities, further exacerbated by unacceptable police brutality, Read more...
Every day since George Floyd’s death, I have read to my five-year-old, brown-skinned boy about reasons to love his skin. After reading a book that explained how black and brown-skinned people are not always treated fairly, he asked, “Does that mean white people are mean?”
As we discussed ways that systemic racism plays out in society, this was exactly the generalization I feared. In the process of explaining how ...
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Kevin Pho, MD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from.
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