As we sat at home watching our physician colleagues on the news draped with masks and PPE calmly explaining their dire situations last year, one cannot help but wonder what kind of environment and community cultivated these heroes. Were their commonalities in how we physicians were all raised that led us on the same path? During medical school, I was intrigued by how such a diverse group of people could …
The world is ill-prepared to respond to threatening public health emergencies. What is most disturbing is how our global leaders continue to lack the moral and scientific premises of health equity. At the beginning of 2020, the novel coronavirus rampaged across the globe, with many officials referring to it as the great equalizer. However, referring to the virus as the great equalizer, ignored the history that diseases have always made …
Maybe we can take a deep breath — and breathe out slowly. Perhaps we can check our pulse. Go on that vacation far away or visit a beach and watch the crashing waves. Listen to the seagulls, the breeze, the blue skies. And turn our cell phones off.
But as an ICU nurse who loved this speciality, having COVID patients in the ICU was a war zone.
One ICU room would now …
Another COVID outbreak appears to be transpiring. As America celebrated significant milestones with vaccination efforts, many people were still spurred by misinformation, lack of evidence, and education. The COVID-19 vaccine naysayers are in all walks of society, from the uneducated to health care professionals. I think it’s fair to say that our civil liberties and part of our belief in freedom of choice will be the downfall of this nation. …
Due to emerging science about transmission in vaccinated people, the CDC now recommends all teachers and students wear masks in school, and that people living in COVID-19 hotspots, or areas of the country with large outbreaks, wear masks indoors, CDC officials said on Tuesday.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, attributed this updated guidance to new science surrounding the Delta variant, showing that “some vaccinated people infected with the Delta …
Medical groups’ calls for COVID-19 vaccination mandates for health care workers reached a fever pitch on Monday, with the American Medical Association (AMA), American Nurses Association, and 55 other organizations joining the chorus supporting mandatory vaccination.
“It is critical that all people in the health care workforce get vaccinated against COVID-19 for the safety of our patients and our colleagues,” said Susan R. Bailey, MD, immediate past president of the AMA, …
A year ago, I started writing. I wrote to process what I had seen and done and to prepare for what I knew was to come. It was inevitable. Humans would return to their normal activities, and despite mine and so many others’ advice, would do so without utilizing mitigating behaviors or respect for others. We knew it was coming, and it did. The summer surge, followed by the darkest …
A public health expert and a web developer have created a new digital communication tool to get more COVID-19 shots into arms — a vaccine emoji.
Social media users have been using the syringe, microbe, or mask emoji in their posts to talk about the pandemic. The new vaccine emoji, however, will display a flexing bicep patched up with a Band-Aid, representing an …
Our country is seventeen months into a pandemic that we have an effective vaccine for, and yet, COVID-19 cases are still rising at an alarming rate. Currently, this dramatic acceleration in cases is evident in several states. Furthermore, these areas with high numbers of COVID-19 case rates are associated with low vaccination rates.
These unfortunate statistics lead one to reflect on the multitude of reasons that Americans are abstaining from vaccination. …
When watching the news or reading articles about COVID-19, the physicians who contribute are often in internal medicine, epidemiology, emergency medicine, etc. You do not typically see psychiatrists contributing to discussions on the virus itself but more about the mental health ramifications of COVID-19.
Psychiatrists are also not often considered integral in the role of vaccine educators. But I argue that they, in fact, play a vital role in educating a …
A controversial study suggesting that masks may harm children by exposing them to high carbon dioxide levels was retracted on Friday.
The research letter released in JAMA Pediatrics on June 30 had reported unacceptably high levels of carbon dioxide by German standards in air inside masks worn by children in a laboratory environment.
In the retraction notice, the journal editors cited “numerous scientific issues,” that also included questions over the applicability …
When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out last year, Helen (not her real name) took all the right steps to protect herself. The 74-year-old self-isolated, wore a face mask, and practiced social distancing.
Helen stayed safe from the virus during this time, but she put her health at risk in another way: for nearly two years, she didn’t see her primary care physician. Nor did she go to the eye doctor to …
COVID-19 has drastically impacted every facet of life. Health care has been the center of this pandemic, and those working in health care have seen first-hand the crisis and the advancements made. As we reflect on the impact this pandemic has, we have seen both the worst and best of our health care system.
1. The scientific and medical community is interconnected and, together, can achieve amazing things. If we reflect …
An excerpt from An Eschatological Isolation.
At 12:11 p.m., the overhead speaker announced: “Code Blue, Three West.” She repeated, “Code Blue, Three West.”
Shit. I started my stopwatch and saved the patient note I was writing in the back office of Three West, the intensive care unit of a community hospital in Tampa Bay. Already wearing a sealed N95 mask, …
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S., and states issued stay-at-home orders, many people vowed to use their time at home positively, learning new skills, virtually volunteering, and getting into shape. Now, more than a year into the pandemic, many of those plans to better ourselves have fallen by the wayside, and people have developed less healthy habits in response to sustained stress and uncertainty.
These pandemic bad habits are …
Emily Watters is a physician who explains vaccine disinformation and how it spreads (click to enlarge):
My phone rings.
“Namaskar! My cough is really bothering me. What should I do?” says a middle-aged man.
“Namaskar! I am Astha Prasai. I am here to help you. Please bear with me while I ask you your problem in detail,” I answer.
Mr. Kafle from Kathmandu is worried about this nagging cough he has, and it has been a month since he has tested positive for COVID- 19. After talking to him …
I had been searching for a year. Because of the pandemic, despite the pandemic and to heal from the pandemic. Finally in May this year, I was gifted what seemed to have become an impossible task.
I messaged the hospital manager: “The trees have arrived. I’ll come by later in the week to chat about where to plant them.”
“Excellent” was her answer.
We have a garden of remembrance as you enter our …
“This plea for help is on behalf of every hospital worker who has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic — from the environmental services staff and medical assistants who are often not recognized, to the social workers and chaplains who are surrounded by distress, to the physicians and …
What a year of change.
A pandemic. Cancer. Death. Loss. Fighting. Abandonment. Pain.
Becoming an orphan. Becoming a caregiver.
My family was hit with a sledgehammer and crushed into pieces. My joyful plans and decades of hard work wiped away with the insidious evil of a 5 x 7 mm tumor that spread like the pandemic, ravaged my mom — stealing her in months.
My hopes and dreams and decades of hard work to …
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