M e d i c a l R ec o r d F e a t u r e
In Their Own Words
Five local physicians share their feelings on the realities of a persistent pandemic. Introduction by Michael Baxter, MD
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s SARS-CoV-2 resurges due to the Delta and more recently the Omicron variants, we are about to enter the third year of the
Covid-19 pandemic. The suffering and lives lost and the economic and social disruptions that we have experienced would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. In the midst of this medical and social turmoil stood thousands upon thousands of health care workers around the world who have placed their
Emergency Department (ED) staff have borne the brunt of this pandemic for over 18 months. Our staff is exhausted. Exhausted from patients refusing testing to get admitted. Exhausted of patients who refuse to get vaccinated, but then end up in the ED needing lifesaving and heroic therapies. Exhausted from seeing colleagues quit the front lines because the mental and emotional toll has been too high. Exhausted from patients and families screaming at staff because of the results of their Covid test. Exhausted from staff shortages. Exhausted at going from being a “hero” early on to being a “zero” now. Exhausted that there are people still convinced that this is no worse than the “flu” (big hint—it is worse!). Exhausted that there is no end in sight, despite a vaccine to reduce the need for ED and hospital interventions. Exhausted at a vaccination rate that isn’t “good enough” to help the population be safe from this virus. — (Prefers to remain Anonymous)
own lives and their physical and mental well-being at risk. All this while facing the trauma of watching patients succumb to this disease and experiencing endless hours/days of exhausting and exasperating work treating disease and mending the lives of countless affected patients. And after all that they have experienced, the end is not yet in sight. In this issue of the Medical Record, we have asked five of our local physicians from the disciplines of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine/ Community Health, Hospital-based Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine to describe their experiences over the past two years. Here is their response “In Their Own Words.”
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Wave four Omicron—the wave that was not supposed to be. We had the miracle vaccine and enough to vaccinate the country. Anyway these pandemics burn themselves out at 18 months, right? Yet here we are, in the perfect storm of a hospital financial crisis, critical staff shortages, following lay-offs and better salaries elsewhere, with a more infectious variant with a predilection for those who did not buy into the science behind vaccines, who now seek care while frequently challenging our medical decisions at every turn. It’s almost as if someone made a sequel to a bad movie that you disliked the first time but find yourself watching with buyer’s remorse. Same plot, mild new twists, but compounded with emotional exhaustion. — Anthony Donato, MD, MACP Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program Reading Hospital/Tower Health
