Will social distancing turn into doctor distancing?

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 [Deliver clinical information to care teams when and where it matters most](. Watch this on-demand webinar to learn how your organization can improve crisis management and make care collaboration easier with [smarter, faster, clinical communications](. As you make plans to [reopen your medical practice during COVID-19]( consider following these 10 recommendations to [keep patients and office staff safe](. [With hundreds of telehealth solutions on the market]( and with a wide range of capabilities, how can you move quickly to implement a HIPAA-compliant solution for your practice? Plan your telehealth strategy by [downloading our eGuide](. [Tax planning for physicians]( updated with recent COVID-19 changes. Learn how to save taxes and keep more of what you make by registering for [this month’s webinars]( Make the Most of Your Home Office and Maximize Your C Corporation Fringe Benefits. --------------------------------------------------------------- KevinMD Plus: May 7, 2020 [Will social distancing turn into doctor distancing?]( Across our country, Americans are under a stay at home order. People are toiling over the hardships of juggling so many things — childcare, homeschooling, working, or not working — all at once. The day that society can rejoin the public sits like a mirage of water in the desert of their isolated lives. Health […] [An advertisement for COVID 2020]( Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed both at work and at home? Perhaps you’re thinking, my job as an anesthesiologist isn’t anxiety-provoking enough; I should probably homeschool my kids at the same time. When’s the last time you uttered the phrase, “This is the most stress I’ve ever experienced” multiple days in a row? Come […] [Why are medical students non-essential?]( Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, medical education is receiving unprecedented attention. By and large, the focus has been on the immediate problem of what to do with medical students. The answer has hinged on medical students being designated as “non-essential” to patient care, and has (for the most part) entailed avoiding clinical activities. A long-term problem […] [False certainty and blanket statements: Not even the WHO is immune]( The World Health Organization (WHO) says there is currently “no evidence” showing that people who have recovered from the coronavirus are not at risk of becoming infected again. “Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an ‘immunity passport’ or […] [The patient who gave me back my humanity]( His breathing was rapid and shallow; O2 in place, his eyes stared at the ceiling of the hospital room. He was a soldier in his late 20s, his once strong body now emaciated, a shell of its former self. His arms rested on top of the bedsheet, bluish nodular lesions of Kaposi’s sarcoma landscaping them […] [Beyond awareness, we need to drive change in mental health]( While 1 in 5 Americans live with a mental illness and almost half of U.S. adults will experience one during their lifetime, the events of the past several weeks remind us that raising awareness around mental health is critical for everyone. While it’s hard to look into the future in the middle of a crisis, […] [An outdated law is limiting our coronavirus response]( As the coronavirus pandemic continues to expose shortcomings in our health care system, an outdated law in many states limits the ability of specific health care workers, physician assistants (PAs), to deploy and provide emergency care. In Washington State, a PA must have a delegation agreement filed with the Department of Health, which identifies a […] [COVID-19 is becoming boring]( Radical statement. I know it may sound crazy. We’ve been at the COVID-19 battle for what seems like forever. The fight is not going away for a long time; it’s going to morph into keeping the virus contained while we get the economy back in full gear. Get people back to work and play, kids […] [COVID tells us to have “the conversation” now]( Insurance companies require doctors to ask dozens of questions and click on carpal-tunnel inducing boxes during a yearly physical. However, none of those questions or boxes address one of the most important aspects of a person’s life, their death. So, as a family doctor, I encourage people to think about it, have “the conversation” with […] [Vulnerability is challenging but necessary for health care professionals]( As someone trained in Brené Brown’s curriculum for helping professionals, vulnerability is my jam. As a physician? Not so much. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown already burned-out healthcare providers into the arena with more than just a shortage of equipment. We are now expected to risk our own lives caring for others, which was not […] [Who should we really be testing for COVID-19?]( The Canadian federal government recently announced it would fund at least one million blood tests to track the novel coronavirus over the next two years. This is a step in the right direction. But is it enough? How do we know if we are testing the right number, and the right people, especially as the pressure […] [The exacerbation of social isolation among the elderly]( COVID-19 has rapidly spread across the nation, leading to the implementation of stringent social distancing guidelines by local and regional authorities. In a desperate effort to limit infection rates, in-person social interactions have been reduced, and many have turned towards indoor hobbies and online platforms to connect with their loved ones. Still, this solution to […] [How COVID-19 is forcing physicians to rethink the concept of job security]( Prior to 2000, a practicing physician was almost guaranteed a prosperous economic livelihood. The guaranteed future meant that a physician could take on financial risks such as using student loans to finance their education, purchase a house during residency, and start building a family. After becoming an attending, affording the million-dollar house, saving for retirement, […] [The plausible positive alternative to COVID-19]( Do you remember those old cartoons with the angel or good guy on one shoulder and the little devil or bad guy on the other? Of course, the good guy was always trying to keep the character out of mischief, and certainly, the little devil was doing quite the opposite. Sometimes, especially now during these […] [Physicians use impalpable sustenance when faced with adversity]( There are those moments of clarity that come from tempestuous thoughts: a eureka moment indifferent to time or space. Thoughts like the zephyr that fill the sails of a sloop on a once quiet lake. Judgment interrogates our experience and knowledge in the same breath. What use is the theory of movements or ordained trajectories […] [A physician-mother comforts her frightened, 6-year-old daughter]( It’s Monday morning at 7:15 a.m. Our kids, ages 6 and 9, have just finished breakfast, and they know to get their shoes on to go for a walk. We are hand-in-hand, slowly waking up as we put one foot in front of the other. We ambled down our neighborhood streets, listening to birds chirping […] [There are drawbacks when multiple layers are placed between patient and physician]( Modern medical practices are assisted by advances in technology but remain challenged by the costs of doing business. Physicians and surgeons are meeting the need to deliver care to large caseloads by employing nurse practitioners and physician assistants and using patient portals to report test results, answer questions, and arrange appointments, including telemedicine consultations. These […] [Patients who slip through the cracks]( As my surgery rotation commenced, I fully expected to be immersed in the unfamiliar territory of “scrubbing in” and “sterile fields.” While I discovered the difference between vertical and horizontal mattress sutures, two specific patients I encountered on this rotation opened my eyes to issues beyond the operating room (OR). After scrubbing out of a […] --------------------------------------------------------------- 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](