Opinions

Justin Jones, MD Justin Jones, MD (5 Posts)

Attending Physician Guest Author and Contributing Writer Emeritus

Intermountain Healthcare

Justin Jones is an outpatient primary care physician in Utah. He completed his residency in 2018 in Colorado and wrote for in-House during residency. He blogs at Residency Hacker.




Tears for the Warriors Without Armor in the Fight Against COVID-19

Published by Justin Jones, MD

It is difficult to put into words the level of frustration and despair that I have felt over the last few days watching the schizophrenic national response to this COVID-19 crisis and its detrimental effects on the work conditions of my colleagues. As an internal medicine physician working in Utah, it feels like it is the calm before the storm as emergency room and urgent care volumes are down as people try to socially distance to correct the spread of this virus. Other areas of the country are not so lucky.

Facing the Inevitable: A Resident Physician’s Perspective on the COVID-19 Pandemic

Published by Vanessa Van Doren, MD

As I check in on my patients each morning, I wonder if some will unexpectedly decompensate and die over the coming weeks. I think about myself and my co-residents who are in the hospital all day swabbing patients for COVID-19 without adequate personal protective equipment. Many of my co-residents are on home isolation as a result of this exposure, waiting for their test results and praying that our government will step up and fund more mask production, or civilians will return the N95s they’ve hoarded, or the set of a TV medical drama will donate their props to us.

A View From the Frontline: COVID-19 and the UK Doctors’ Perspective

Published by Grace Hatton, MPharm, MBChB, DTM&H

Earlier last week, one patient had been referred in from their family physician, and the onsite senior resident, Adam, had been the doctor to assess them. Symptoms were vague — generally unwell, off food, bit of a cough, possible headache. Viral swabs were taken, because pretty much anyone that had lately walked through the hospital door with even a suspicion of sepsis now had samples sent off.

Routine Infection Prevention Will Not Contain COVID-19

Published by Miao J. Hua, MD, PhD

As an internal medicine resident working at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, COVID-19 has taken over our workroom conversations as the number of new cases enters exponential growth. As an anthropologist who lived in Wuhan for a year and has regularly kept in touch with physicians there since the city was placed under lockdown on January 23, 2020, COVID-19 has proved to be an unprecedented crisis.

Ending Inhumane Treatment Within Detention Centers Begins by Bringing Life-Saving Basic Health Care to Patients Within

Published by Saba Malik, MD, MPH

In America today, history is repeating itself with ardent voices calling for division between “aliens” and “nationals,” instilling an “us” versus “them” mentality. What is happening under our watch is eerily reminiscent of the internment camps of World War II and the separation of individuals based on ethnicity that we have seen throughout history. We have created a climate of widespread fear, detaining immigrants and asylum seekers in abhorrent conditions, without a basic standard of care, and separating parents from children. 

Climate Change is Here: A Pediatrician’s Perspective on the Public Health Crisis

Published by Shalini Shah, DO

Softly and subtly, the rustling of the leaves quickens and a cool breeze sweeps across the town. A child rocks gently on a swing and a father stands in the bazaar bartering for the best value for vegetables for dinner. His wife is hospitalized with hemorrhagic dengue; shivering with fevers that rise and fall as do her blood counts.

Why Being Kind Matters: Mistreatment of Residents Leads to Increased Rates of Burnout and Suicidal Ideation

Published by Rebecca L. Williams-Karnesky, MD, PhD

Residency is a challenging time plagued by long hours, overwhelming clinical service loads, escalating documentation requirements, and inadequate resources for support. A recently published study in the New England Journal of Medicine illustrates how mistreatment in the training environment takes an additional toll on medical trainees.

Patients, Providers and the Working Class: Lessons for Health Workers from the Closing of Hahnemann Hospital

Published by Karim Sariahmed, MD

I had just started my first clerkship of third year at a nearby hospital when the news broke. Hahnemann Hospital, the main teaching hospital of my medical school, was closing. More accurately, the hedge fund manager who purchased the hospital a year earlier was filing for bankruptcy. He separated the valuable Center City real estate from the hospital itself to ensure a tidy profit for investors at the expense of patients and staff.

A Cry for Help: Burning Out as a Resident Physician

Published by Tequilla Manning, MD

During residency, do you ever stop to think why you wanted to become a doctor? What were your reasons? I wish I could remember mine. I could have pursued so many other careers. I used to be a director of a non-profit organization, helping individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds attain technical skills. I do not recall being at my current level of mental, emotional and physical dysfunctionality while working that job.

Michael McClurkin, MD, MPP Michael McClurkin, MD, MPP (1 Posts)

Resident Physician Contributing Writer

Yale School of Medicine

Michael McClurkin is a PGY-1 Psychiatry resident with the Yale School of Medicine Psychiatry Residency Program. His interests include public psychiatry, addiction psychiatry and health policy. In his free time, he loves spending time with his significant other, running, reading manga and drinking freshly ground coffee.