Standing in the Gap
Standing in the Gap Making hospital rounds in the days of COVID was a problem unlike anything I had ever experienced. Never in my career was it so difficult going from one room to the next, never knowing if a patient would still be there the next day, constantly trying to anticipate the next disaster waiting to happen. I still remember the crushing shortness of breath, the look of fatigued despair, and the families asking if there was anything— anything —that would change or improve their loved one's outcome. The ICU beds were completely full. Transfers to higher levels of care were impossible because the urban hospitals were maxed out, too. It was the brutal reality of the COVID world. Honestly, if you had told me at the start of my primary care career that a major occupational hazard of mine would involve public anger over wearing a mask, taking a vaccine, or washing hands thoroughly, I would have laughed in your face. Yet I spent countless hours trying to explain why these basic...