Why returning to the COVID-19 front line is indeed difficult for doctors like me
Dr. E. Hanh Le, Senior Director of Medical Affairs at Healthline Press, is normally no stranger to overall health emergencies. Now, she shares what motivates her to look for opportunities to volunteer through the COVID-19 pandemic and describes the roadblocks that she faces.
Many of us very likely recall Norman Rockwell’s image of a health care provider. He was precious; and assuredly, when he retired in his old age, he was overlooked by the community.
Fast-forward to the last few years, and you could possibly be amazed to find that lots of retired physicians actually still left clinical medicine if they were in their 40s or 30s, if not mid-20s - the prime years for successful clinical practice.
Many left because these were lured away by professions in coaching or technology, but fundamentally, many kept because they were disappointed and burnt away by the talk about of healthcare today, abandoning years of sought-after, hard-won education and training.
So what do we do today, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when generally there is a big army of doctors who could go back to active duty and serve in scientific medicine?
Relieving colleagues on leading lines
As a family group Medicine physician, I recall being working in Houston, carrying individuals from floor to floor in the stairwell when Tropical Storm Allison struck, wiping out the power in an entire section of our hospital.
I remember the all-hands-on-deck contact to the hospital after 9/11, as we all watched for further terrorist attacks and potential casualties.
So, when COVID-19 took the world simply by storm in early 2020, We knew that it could not be a long time before there will be a need for physicians want myself to emerge from early retirement and have up arms on the front lines, to alleviate our colleagues who was simply fighting the hard attack from the beginning.
I proactively sought out opportunities to volunteer, due to I wasn’t buying a second paying job. To my dismay, I found that is surprisingly problematic for able-bodied medical professionals like myself to return to scientific practice as volunteers.
To begin with, though I’m board-certified and also have a dynamic medical license, I really do not carry my own malpractice insurance, so it is unclear who cover me personally, should there end up being any unfavorable patient outcome during my delivery of health care and really should the patient wish to pursue legal recourse.
Also, while it is well-known that there is a military reserve for the majority of our military, most physicians have no idea there are medical reserve corps through the entire country that enlist volunteer medical and nonmedical personnel to aid regarding emergencies. Some local areas even have multiple corps unit. Not really once had I heard about this until I proceeded to go looking for this, to find my native unit.
As we have observed in the national media in the last week, in NEW YORK there are little to no coordinated work that could allow us, as a country, to mobilize a sizable medical workforce to the front lines.
So, physicians want myself have already been emailing our clinical colleagues and contacts to observe how we can help.
But the virtually all heartbreaking and frustrating roadblock boils right down to what we'd see and encounter if we were called to leading lines.
Why can’t we do better?
Various clinicians have reported that they have limited or no personal protective equipment and also have received contradictory, haphazard communications from their administrative staff, leaving them feeling just like there are no very clear protocols to protect them and their patients.
Quite a few clinical colleagues who've been serving on the front lines aren’t sure what is on the other hand, should they survive this pandemic, thus there is concern about what would happen if retired medical professionals, a lot of whom have not experienced clinical practice for a long time, join the ranks.
What systems are in location to support all of us and ensure our success in looking after our patients? Unfortunately, various clinicians still remember Jon Stewart’s impassioned plea to Congress to provide 9/11 1st responders with a fund to cover the health care that they needed subsequent to the service that they provided.
Many clinicians are left wondering exactly what will become of us following this pandemic is more than. What happens to our family members if we die or will be incapacitated and unable to work in the foreseeable future? Many of us are the primary (if not sole) financial suppliers for our families.
Fortunately, the American Medical Association possess published advice for retired physicians who want to go back to clinical practice and outlined guidance about delivering care via telemedicine or in person.
But ultimately, it nonetheless rests on the average person clinicians to seek out options to volunteer, and it’s not easy.
None of the erodes my desire to fulfill my duties as your physician. I have sensed and can likely always look and feel the moral dedication to provide attention to all those who need it, whatever the hazards to myself, because it was the oath that I had taken when I started to be a doctor.
The problem does give me pause and get me wonder: Why can’t we do better? Why can’t we carry out better for our doctors and other healthcare employees? And by performing better for our doctors, aren’t we carrying out better for our patients? Who's going to care for the many patients who want us?
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
