A COVID-19 coronavirus update from concerned physicians

Here are the stories you missed on KevinMD. Thank you for your continuing readership. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ --------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the stories you missed on [KevinMD](. Thank you for your continuing readership. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsors [How can you improve communications to enhance the provider experience]( and pursue the quadruple aim? Explore how better communications can help make positive impacts on 3 important issues facing providers today. [Read now](. A well-constructed [infection control preparedness plan for coronavirus (COVID-19)]( is essential for facilities where patients receive care, such as physician offices, dental offices, long-term care facilities, and [ambulatory care centers](. [Struggling with too little time and too many responsibilities?]( This whitepaper offers critical strategies for alleviating burnout. It's time to [heal health care](. [MDforLives](. Find the latest medical articles and paid surveys. Earn honorarium. Get top-notch CME and peer-reviewed content. [Join now](. --------------------------------------------------------------- KevinMD Plus: Mar 16, 2020 [A COVID-19 coronavirus update from concerned physicians]( “Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after will seem inadequate.” – Michael Leavitt Why are we writing this? The COVID-19 pandemic has reached a point where containment is no longer possible. The COVID-19 threat is real, and rapidly getting worse. Many of you are very nervous; some are unsure […] [As a physician fighting coronavirus, I am angry]( I am angry. I am going to be working to care for patients to the best of my ability. But will continue to be angry. Angry at the lack of resources we seem to have access to. Angry at the lack of testing supplies we have. Angry at the social isolation that I and others […] [Essential clinician commentary on COVID-19 coronavirus from the KevinMD community]( Trusted clinician commentary on COVID-19 coronavirus from the KevinMD community. Continuously updated. [Prevent the spread of COVID-19 with telemedicine]( I am a board-certified internal medicine physician practicing in a small outpatient clinic with a highly reputable academic organization in the greater Boston area. Regarding COVID-19, I am not panicked, but I am concerned– concerned for our patients, concerned for our workforce and health care providers, concerned for our parents and loved ones. The situation […] [COVID-19 coronavirus needs apolitical truth-telling]( She is 11, a fifth-grader, as prepubescent as nature allows, and utterly terrified. She hasn’t eaten normally for nearly a month, her mother reports. She sleeps poorly, reports nightmares, and cleans her hands so obsessively that she is literally bleeding raw. Her fifth-grade peer group typically does not guard its language nor govern its remarks, […] [The accuracy of COVID-19 tests]( The current COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted the availability and the results of medical diagnostic tests. As a physician, I treat the results of lab tests like I treat movie recommendations from a friend – I am always skeptical. For the movies, I need to consider my friend’s suggestion in the context of their mood, tastes, current life […] [A previously healthy clinician, now critically ill with COVID-19]( A New Jersey physician assistant who was the state’s first COVID-19 patient is speaking out from his hospital bed, calling his illness “severe” and raising concerns about his treatment. James Cai, a 32-year-old non-smoker with no other health conditions, has been at Hackensack University Medical Center for about a week and says his illness has […] [COVID-19: Don’t listen to the political spin of either side]( The U.S. response to coronavirus reminds me of recent disasters when official facts were at odds with the reality I encountered. Governments have a long history of lying to their people about the risks of illness, either as a way to minimize political damage or to drum up hatred for “the other.” China was accused […] [A doctor’s coronavirus straight talk]( I have been getting lots of requests for my opinion about where we are and what is coming. The first question is: How bad will the coronavirus epidemic be in the U.S.? The short answer is, we don’t know – but it could be pretty nasty. An important point, though, is that we are not […] [Should you panic about coronavirus?]( Susan Desmond-Hellmann has a unique set of experiences. Until February, she was the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where part of her job was thinking up new ways to battle infectious disease. Before that, she was the chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco. In the 2000s, she was one of […] [COVID-19: Test medical students, accelerate the Match, and let us graduate early to join the fight]( As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) makes its way across the country and globe, I have been thinking about how we fourth-year medical students fit into the picture. Not quite out one door, yet not quite in the other, our liminal perspective is liable to be overwhelmed by the many other considerations that predominate the public […] [The coronavirus cost that no one can count]( On December 31, 2019, the world changed as we knew it, but the future implications for the United States were not apparent at the time. On that day, the World Health Organization (WHO) China Country Office was informed of new cases of “pneumonia of unknown etiology” originating from Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. The […] [Will the coronavirus make primary care physicians cool again?]( Two topics that have been flooding everyone’s timeline and twitter feed over the past few weeks: COVID-19 and remote work–or for our health care folks, virtual care. I won’t touch too much on COVID-19. There are tons of experts doing amazing work to help spread accurate public information, and I thank you all for everything […] [COVID-19 is exposing our broken health care system. Young physicians will help.]( News trends come, and news trends go. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a news topic that, for the time being, is here to stay. This pandemic has already revealed deeper issues within the culture of medicine here in the United States and focused young physicians on what really matters. As this pandemic progresses, a […] [How struggling to breastfeed made me a better pediatrician]( “You’re a pediatrician; you already know everything.” “Full-term babies latch easily and basically breastfeed themselves.” “I didn’t have trouble breastfeeding, so you should be fine.” I heard a lot of comments like this from friends and family when I was pregnant. However, when I became a mom, I was woefully under-prepared to answer my own […] [Learn about Guillain-Barré syndrome with a Medcomic rap]( Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy in which the body’s immune system attacks peripheral nerves. Clinical and epidemiological evidence seems to indicate that most cases are preceded by an infection such as Campylobacter jejuni enteritis, but in many cases, no cause is identified. GBS is characterized by symmetrical muscle weakness that begins in the […] [This patient is more than just a street person]( When I first landed this job as a case manager (social worker), I was given Robert R. as a client. He was at his worst then, soiling himself virtually every day, with no change of clothing available. I remember him wearing a piece of colored cloth around his waist, which served as a belt. When […] [Here’s what it’s really like to live in pain]( I am a retired union plumber with the state of Illinois. I’ve had laparoscopic surgery on both knees, a lower back surgery that required two stainless rods, and I’m not sure how many screws, and three cervical fusions. I now suffer from neuropathy (nerve dysfunction) in my feet. They’re painfully numb: A shoe could come […] [A case for resident activism]( In 2019, residents organized coast-to-coast to protest low pay, unsafe working conditions, and insufficient benefits. Residents at the University of Washington and UCLA walked out of the hospital in reaction to stalled contract negotiations. Residents at Yale interrupted a meeting to introduce a “Resident and Fellow Bill of Rights,” outlining basic rights such as a […] [We can’t deny death, even if it’s a colleague]( Does care fall short or go higher when the patient is one of our own? It depends on who you ask: We, the medical team, believe we try hard for everyone, but go the extra mile when it’s one of our own. Perhaps to family/outsiders, we’re not doing enough. A recent case illustrates this phenomenon: […] [Health insurer: I want my 8 hours and 6 minutes back]( February is a short month. Even this year with leap day. So short. Maybe that is why I am so mad at what Company X did to me. My health insurance company stole eight hours and six minutes from me in February. I will never get it back. This is my story of trying to […] [Why doctors should get political]( I became a physician to help people. So isn’t fighting for issues that help protect my patients such as racial equality, LGBTQ rights, gender pay equity, access to health care, and education all part of patient care? Don’t my patients want to have a doctor who is fighting for them both in the office and […] [A physician in the venture capital world]( Most physicians have spent decades training for the day that they see their first patient or perform their first surgery. This extended time involved to become a physician does not leave a lot of spare time in college or medical school for most physicians to take any significant coursework in economics, finance, or investing. Yet, physicians […] [Reclaiming the future of health care]( A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD. Although I work for the American College of Physicians, I’m writing this as a general internist who has practiced both primary care and hospital-based medicine for over 25 years. Hopefully by now, you are aware of Better is Possible: The American College of […] [How to manage the transitions of your day]( Three months ago I got a Peloton bike. Overnight I went from a boring, 30 minute, mildly aerobic grind on an elliptical while listening to podcasts to getting my rear end handed to me by Peloton instructors, all in recorded classes I take on demand. Yesterday my instructor was Cody Rigsby, a guy with a great […] [How can you determine a Caribbean medical school’s quality?]( If you open Google and do a search for “Caribbean medical schools,” it will quickly become clear to you that not everyone is a fan, but just because something doesn’t work for one person doesn’t necessarily mean it hasn’t worked for hundreds. Established, upper-tier Caribbean medical schools are credible alternatives for hardworking students unable to […] [Proper endings like this feel right]( He was a logical man. A northeast Ohio man. Who worked all his life and worked hard. I can see it in his hands. They are entirely calloused with traces of grease impervious even to pumice soap. A family man. His wife and sons and daughters are at bedside. And proud grandson, just a man, […] [It’s time to stop treating suffering like a necessary rite of passage]( Once, when I was a senior resident covering a busy trauma service at a county hospital, I was on call for nine days in a row while my co-chief had an uncovered vacation. It was July, and we were all — interns, junior residents, and me — new and uncertain in our roles. I left […] [MKSAP: 26-year-old man with back pain]( Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 26-year-old man is evaluated during a follow-up visit after presenting to an urgent care clinic for back pain 1 week ago. Laboratory studies at that time were significant for a serum creatinine level of 1.4 mg/dL (123.8 µmol/L); other laboratory […] [I have more hope than ever for women in medicine]( Recently, I was a speaker at a conference for 200 physician moms. Most attendees were early- to mid-career. I had to laugh — I was one of the oldest doctor moms in the room. I thought to myself, where are the later-career moms? How many women are quitting medicine mid-to-late career? It is worse than […] [Medical students are more than just numbers]( Student G.M is a 228. When she came to our school, she was a 31. When she went to college, she was a 1270. Now we must make this number a caring, feeling person who has the empathy to impact the lives of patients for decades. Makes sense, right? Wrong! I played basketball in college […] [Who are responsible for outrageous medical bills? Hint: It’s not doctors.]( Over the last few years, there has been a slew of articles about patients receiving surprise bills after ER visits. One woman was charged $5,751 for an ice pack and a bandage. An infant was charged $937 for an antibiotic ointment. Who sends bills like that? Is it the ER doctors? No. It’s large corporations. […] [Dear medicine: I’m breaking up with you]( I’m breaking up with you. I fell in love with you when I was just a child sitting in my grandfather’s family practice office. He put that magical white coat on me, sat me at his desk, welcomed in my first patient, and I was smitten. I grew up playing medical guessing games with him […] [You are the reason I became a physician]( I can smell the wafting aroma of frying onions and tomatoes as I am upstairs, just waking for the day. I am 10 years old, and these aromas are the staple of my childhood. It brings back memories of home. I walk downstairs and see my dad stirring the tomatoes and onions in the frying […] --------------------------------------------------------------- If a friend sent you this email and you want to subscribe, go to [KevinMD](. --------------------------------------------------------------- 345 Hudson Street New York NY 10014 USA [Unsubscribe]( | [Change Subscriber Options](