The Podcast by KevinMD

"I am a nurse who has worked at a rural hospital. My husband is a board-certified family medicine doctor. In the fall of 2020, I was raped by my massage therapist. I know that everyone has an opinion of what they would do in that situation, and I was probably one of those people. However, to my complete shock (quite literally), I didn't behave in any manner that I would have thought. Much to my embarrassment, I was a nurse who had no idea what to do when I was raped on top of the previously mentioned humiliation." The guest is an anonymous nurse who shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "There needs to be a better approach to victims of sexual violence." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/12/there-needs-to-be-a-better-approach-to-victims-of-sexual-violence.html)

"When the public was made aware of the risk of transmitting the virus and the far-reaching measures of social distancing, closing schools, and lock-down, most Americans willingly complied. After all, they became aware, for the first time, of the risk of aerosolized viral particles present in theatres, churches, restaurants, and classrooms. But we physicians already knew that. We knew that when we went into the operating room or the bedside to repair a laceration in the emergency department, we wore masks to protect our patients from the microorganisms living in our noses and mouths. We already knew that the spread of norovirus and other food-borne illness can be mitigated by the use of hand-washing and the use of sanitizing cleaners. Physicians already knew that the world was a rather naïve and scary place in terms of infectious disease." Joan Naidorf is an emergency physician. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Influenza: a deadly risk in schools before COVID." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/03/influenza-a-deadly-risk-in-schools-before-covid.html)

"Now the room is silent as if nothing at all occurred. I stand watching the red stain forming on the pristine white sheet, mocking me in my failure. I trained at excellent institutions, survived residency, and served in combat. Now, here at a Level 1 trauma center, I could not save this life with every possible medical tool at my disposal. This injury, this particular injury, always has, and forever will, haunt my dreams. The hubris to think that I could be the difference, that I am better than those who came before me, was answered tonight, as it has been before, by this deserved slap in the face. I absorb the charged silence; my mind wanders back to my third year of medical school. I was doing well, a moderate prodigy of the medical department. I was ready for every conference, every patient, well-read and well prepared, until that fateful day." Richard Morand is a trauma surgeon. Melissa Fournier is a social worker. They are, respectively, contribute and co-editor, The Healer's Burden: Stories and Poems of Professional Grief. They share their stories and discuss the KevinMD article, "I could not save this life with every possible medical tool at my disposal." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/11/i-could-not-save-this-life-with-every-possible-medical-tool-at-my-disposal.html)

"I really shouldn't complain. I haven't lost my housing or job. I have plenty of food and toilet paper, and so far, no close friend or family have died from COVID. That said, this pandemic is hard. In fact, it is exhausting. During the spring and summer, I gave positive COVID results to a number of patients from my home's safety, thanks to telehealth. But the reality of telling patients how to self-quarantine when six people live in two rooms with one bathroom, or giving resources about food and other basics because the household provider lost a job, or can't work because s/he is COVID positive, is tough. Tough on the recipient of the advice and tough on me." Therese Zink is a family physician and can be reached at her self-titled site, ThereseZink.com. She is the author of COVID Chronicles: How Essential Workers Cope. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "The long journey of COVID." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/11/the-long-journey-of-covid.html)

"It is dangerously unfortunate that the use of masks has been politicized in many parts of our nation. The Dakotas (or North and South COVID as they were recently called on Saturday Night Live) are far from exempt from this phenomenon. Likely, if Governor Burgum's decision was less influenced by fear of criticism from his constituents and political retaliation, he would have required a mask mandate long before making it acceptable for infected individuals to leave their home. Masks have time and again proven to be safe and effective. It's not a big ask." Sheetal Khedkar Rao is an internal medicine physician. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "The problem with allowing COVID-positive health care workers to continue working." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/11/the-problem-with-allowing-covid-positive-health-care-workers-to-continue-working.html)

"If PCPs want to meet the new competition from virtual primary care plans, I suggest that they gradually increase the percentage of their visits that they do through telehealth. Now that payers are reimbursing those visits at the same level as in-person visits, they have nothing to lose financially. Of course, there are some ancillary services that might be performed in their offices, such as lab tests, X-rays or bone density scans. But PCPs could order some of these when patients came in for visits, and they could also reduce their spending on staff and office space if they saw fewer patients in-house. Such a move would represent a big change for PCPs. But they've already adopted telehealth to a much greater extent than ever before. A fuller embrace of the technology could help them survive financially, and it might even improve chronic disease care if virtual follow-ups were combined with regular office visits." Ken Terry is a journalist and author of Physician-Led Health Care Reform: A New Approach to Medicare for All. He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "PCPs could counter virtual plans by increasing telehealth visits." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/03/pcps-could-counter-virtual-plans-by-increasing-telehealth-visits.html)

"Looking back on these words at the end of my rotation, I understand what I had felt, and I feel confident naming it: the futility of medicine. We can comfort and treat patients, but there's nothing more we can do after a certain point. As a bright-eyed medical student who wrote on all her medical school applications that she wanted to save lives, it was and still is difficult for me to understand that." Shereen Jeyakumar is a medical student. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "My first end-of-life conversation." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/12/my-first-end-of-life-conversation.html)

"Motherhood has been the biggest gamble of my adult life thus far. How was I going to operate for 12-plus hours while 39-weeks pregnant? Where would I be when I went into labor? How would was I going to return after three weeks? How would I pump during and in between OR cases? I did it. It certainly wasn't easy. And I would do it all over. My son is beautiful and healthy. I've never been prouder of anything I've ever done. He is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night. He's made me a better clinician and surgeon." Lauren A. Umstattd is a facial plastic surgery fellow. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Advice to a pregnant surgical resident." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2019/10/advice-to-a-pregnant-surgical-resident.html)

"COVID-19 disproportionately impacts those with pre-existing conditions, and our health care system leaves one in five Americans with a pre-existing condition uninsured. Further, with multiple COVID-19 vaccines already in early but slow distribution, attaining universal coverage is critical, particularly in light of uninsurance having an inverse relationship with vaccination rates. President Biden will need to act with a legislative urgency that matches these times to pass a public option. With two-thirds of the country approving President Biden's handling of the transition, now is his opportunity. He may just need to take a few pages out of the 'Johnson treatment' playbook in crafting the 'Biden treatment.'" Jonathan Staloff is a family medicine resident and can be reached on Twitter @jonstaloff. He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, "How President Biden's quest for a public option mirrors LBJ's passage of Medicare and Medicaid." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/01/how-president-bidens-quest-for-a-public-option-mirrors-lbjs-passage-of-medicare-and-medicaid.html)

"The patient knocking on your door is not your enemy. They're sick. They're scared. They're in pain. They don't know why, and they're hoping for an answer. If you can't find the source of a problem quickly, it doesn't mean it's not there." Denise Reich is a patient advocate. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Patients don't need quick diagnoses. They need accurate ones." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/01/patients-dont-need-quick-diagnoses-they-need-accurate-ones.html)